only ruined everything worthy of the name of a building, but
completely extinguished the race of artists, a far more serious
matter. Then, as it pleased God, there was born in the year 1240 in
the city of Florence, Giovanni, surnamed Cimabue, of the noble family
of the Cimabui, to shed the first light on the art of painting. As he
grew up he appeared to his father and others to be a boy of quick
intelligence, so that he was accordingly sent to receive instruction
in letters to a relation, a master at S. Maria Novella, who then
taught grammar to the novices of that convent. Instead of paying
attention to his lessons, Cimabue spent the whole day in drawing men,
horses, houses, and various other fancies on his books and odd
sheets, like one who felt himself compelled to do so by nature.
Fortune proved favourable to this natural inclination, for some Greek
artists were summoned to Florence by the government of the city for
no other purpose than the revival of painting in their midst, since
that art was not so much debased as altogether lost. Among the other
works which they began in the city, they undertook the chapel of the
Gondi, the vaulting and walls of which are to-day all but destroyed
by the ravages of time. It is situated in S. Maria Novella, next the
principal chapel. In this way Cimabue made a beginning in the art
which attracted him, for he often played the truant and spent the
whole day in watching the masters work. Thus it came about that his
father and the artists considered him so fitted to be a painter that,
if he devoted himself to the profession, he might look for honourable
success in it, and to his great satisfaction his father procured him
employment with the painters. Then, by dint of continual practice and
with the assistance of his natural talent, he far surpassed the
manner of his teachers both in design and in colour. For they had
never cared to make any progress, and had executed their works, not
in the good manner of ancient Greece, but in the rude modern style of
that time. But although Cimabue imitated the Greeks he introduced
many improvements in the art, and in a great measure emancipated
himself from their awkward manner, bringing honour to his country by
his name and by the works which he produced. The pictures which he
executed in Florence bear testimony to this, such as the antipendium
to the altar of St Cecilia, and a Madonna in S. Croce, which was
then and still is fastened to a pillar on the right hand side of the
choir. Subsequently he painted on a panel a St Francis, on a gold
ground. He drew this from nature, to the best of his powers, although
it was a novelty to do so in those days, and about it he represented
the whole of the saint's life in twenty small pictures full of little
figures, on a gold ground. He afterwards undertook a large picture
for the monks of Vallombrosa in their abbey of S, Trinita at
Florence. This was a Madonna with the child in her arms, surrounded
by many adoring angels, on a gold ground. To justify the high opinion
in which he was already held, he worked at it with great industry,
showing improved powers of invention and exhibiting our lady in a
pleasing attitude. The painting when finished was placed by the monks
over the high altar of the church, whence it was afterwards removed
to make way for the picture of Alesso Baldovinetti, which is there
to-day. It was afterwards placed in a small chapel of the south aisle
in that church. Cimabue next worked in fresco at the hospital of the
Porcellana, at the corner of the via Nuova which leads to the Borgo
Ognissanti. On one side of the façade, in the middle of which is the
principal door, he represented an Annunciation, and on the other
side, Jesus Christ with Cleophas and Luke, life-size figures. In this
work he abandoned the old manner, making the draperies, garments, and
other things somewhat more life-like, natural and soft than the style
of the Greeks, full as that was of lines and profiles as well in
mosaics as in painting. The painters of those times had taught one
another that rough, awkward and common-place style for a great number
of years, not by means of study but as a matter of custom, without
ever dreaming of improving their designs by beauty of colouring or by
any invention of worth. After this was finished Cimabue again
received a commission from the same superior for whom he had done the
work at S. Croce. He now made him a large crucifix of wood, which may
still be seen in the church. The work caused the superior, who was
well pleased with it, to take him to their convent of S. Francesco at
Pisa, to paint a picture of St Francis there. When completed it was
considered most remarkable by the people there, since they recognised
a certain quality of excellence in the turn of the heads and in the
fall of the drapery which was not to be found in the Byzantine style
in any work executed up to that time not only in Pisa but throughout
Italy.
For the same church Cimabue afterwards painted a large picture of Our
Lady with the child in her arms, surrounded by several angels, on a
gold ground. In order to make room for the marble altar which is now
there it was soon afterwards removed from its original situation and
placed inside the church, near the door on the left hand. For this
work he was much praised and rewarded by the Pisans. In Pisa also he
painted a panel of St Agnes surrounded by a number of small figures
representing scenes from her life, at the request of the Abbot of S.
Paolo in Ripa d'Arno. The panel is to-day over the altar of the
Virgin in that church.
The name of Cimabue having become generally known through these
works, he was taken to Assisi, a city of Umbria, where, in
conjunction with some Greek masters, he painted a part of the
vaulting of the lower Church of S. Franceso, and on the walls, the
life of Jesus Christ and that of St Francis. In these paintings he
far surpassed the Greek masters, and encouraged by this, he began to
paint the upper church in fresco unaided, and on the large gallery
over the choir, on the four walls, he painted some subjects from the
history of Our Lady, that is to say, her death, when her soul is
carried to Heaven by Christ on a throne of clouds, and when He crowns
her in the midst of a choir of angels, with a number of saints
beneath. These are now destroyed by time and dust. He then painted
several things at the intersections of the vaulting of that church,
which are five in number. In the first one over the choir he
represented the four Evangelists, larger than life-size, and so well
done, that even to-day they are acknowledged to possess some merit;
and the freshness of the flesh colouring shows, that by his efforts,
fresco-painting was beginning to make great progress. The second
intersection he filled with gilt stars on an ultramarine field. In
the third he represented Jesus Christ, the Virgin his mother, St John
the Baptist and St Francis in medallions, that is to say, a figure in
each medallion and a medallion in each of the four divisions of the
vault. The fourth intersection like the second he painted with gilt
stars on ultramarine. In the fifth he represented the four Doctors of
the church, and beside each of them a member of the four principal
religious orders. This laborious undertaking was carried out with
infinite diligence. When he had finished the vaults he painted the
upper part of the walla on the left side of the church from one end
to the other, also in fresco. Near the high altar between the windows
and right up to the vaulting he represented eight subjects from the
Old Testament, starting from the beginning of Genesis and selecting
the most noteworthy incidents. In the space flanking the windows to
the point where they terminate at the gallery which runs round the
inside of the church, he painted the remainder of the Old Testament
history in eight other subjects. Opposite these and corresponding
to them he painted sixteen subjects representing the deeds of Our
Lady and of Jesus Christ, while on the end wall over the principal
entrance and about the rose window above it, he painted the Ascension
and the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles. This work which
is most extraordinary for richness and beauty, must, in my opinion,
have astounded the people of those times, painting having been in
such blindness for so long a apace. When I saw it again in the year
1563 it seemed most beautiful, as I reflected how marvellous it was
that Cimabue should see so much light in the midst of so great
darkness. But it is worthy of note that of all these paintings those
of the vaults are much the best preserved since they are less injured
by the dust and other accidents. When these works were finished
Giovanni set about painting the walls beneath, namely those beneath
the windows, and he did some things there, but as he was summoned to
Florence on some affairs of his own, he did not pursue the task,
which was finished by Giotto many years after, as will be related
when the time comes.
Cimabue having thus returned to Florence painted in the cloister of
S. Spirito, where the whole length of wall towards the church is done
in the Byzantine style by other masters, events from the life of
Christ, in three arches, with considerable excellence of design. At
the same time, he sent to Empoli some things executed by him in
Florence, which are held in great reverence to this day in the Pieve
of that town. He next painted a picture of Our Lady for the church of
S. Maria Novella, where it hangs high up between the chapel of the
Rucellai and that of the Bardi of Vernio. The figure was of a larger
size than any which had been executed up to that time, and the angels
about it show that, although be still had the Byzantine style, he was
making, some progress towards the lineaments and methods of modern
times. The people of that day, who had never seen anything better,
considered this work so marvellous, that they carried it to the
church from Cimabue's house in a stately procession with great
rejoicing and blowing of trumpets, while Cimabue himself was highly
rewarded and honoured. It is reported, and some records of the old
painters relate that while Cimabue was painting this picture in some
gardens near the gate of S. Piero, the old king Charles of Anjou
passed through Florence. Among the many entertainments prepared for
him by the men of the city, they brought him to see the picture of
Cimabue. As it had not then been seen by anyone, all the men and
women of Florence flocked thither in a crowd, with the greatest
rejoicings, so that those who lived in the neighbourhood called the
place Borgo Allegri (Joyful Quarter), because of the rejoicing there.
This name it has ever afterwards retained, being in the course of
time enclosed within the walls of the city.
At S. Francesco, at Pisa, where Cimabue executed some other works,
which have been mentioned above, in the cloister, at a corner beside
the doorway leading into the church, is a small picture in tempera by
his hand, representing Christ on the cross, surrounded by some angels
who are weeping, and hold in their hands certain words written about
the head of Christ, and which they are directing towards the ears of
our Lady, who is standing weeping on the right hand side; and on the
other side to St John the Evangelist, who is there, plunged in grief.
The words to the Virgin are: "_Mulier, ecce filius tuus_," and those
to St John: "_Ecce mater tua_." Another angel, separated from these,
holds in its hands the sentence: "_Ex illa hora accepit eam
discipulus in suam_." In this we perceive how Cimabue began to give
light and open the way to inventions, bringing words, as he does
here, to the help of his art in order to express his meaning, a
curious device certainly and an innovation.
By means of these works Cimabue had now acquired a great name and
much profit, so that he was associated with Arnolfo Lapi, an
excellent architect of that time, in the building of S. Maria del
Fiore, at Florence. But at length, when he had lived sixty years, he
passed to the other life in the year 1300, having achieved hardly
less than the resurrection of painting from the dead.
He left behind a number of disciples, and among others Giotto, who
was afterwards an excellent painter. Giotto dwelt in his master's old
house in the via del Cocomero after Cimabue's death. Cimabue was
buried in S. Maria del Fiore, with this epitaph made for him by one
of the Nini:--
"Credidit ut Clmabos picturæ castra tenere
Sic tenuit vivens, nunc tenet astra poli."
I must not omit to say that if the greatness of Giotto, his pupil,
had not obscured the glory of Cimabue, the fame of the latter would
have been more considerable, as Dante points out in his Commedia in
the eleventh canto of the Purgatorio, with an allusion to the
inscription on the tomb, where he says:
"Credette Cimabue nella pintura
Tener lo campo, ed ora ha Giotto il grido
Si che la fama di colui oscura."
A commentator on Dante, who wrote during Giotto's lifetime, about
1334, some ten or twelve years after the poet's death, in his
explanation of these lines, says the following words in speaking of
Cimabue: "Cimabue was a painter of Florence in the time of our
author, a man of unusual eminence and so arrogant and haughty withal,
that if any one pointed out a fault or defect in his work, or if he
discovered any himself, since it frequently happens that an artist
makes mistakes through a defect in the materials which he employs, or
because of some fault in the instrument with which he works, he
immediately destroyed that work, however costly it might be. Giotto
was, and is, the most eminent among the painters of the same city of
Florence, as his works testify, at Rome, Naples, Avignon, Florence,
Padua, and many parts of the world," etc. This commentary is now in
the possession of the Very Rev. Vincenzio Borghini, prior of the
Innocents, a man distinguished for his eminence, piety and learning,
but also for his love for and skill in all the superior arts, so that
he has well deserved his judicious selection by Duke Cosimo to be the
ducal representative in our academy of design.
Returning to Cimabue, Giotto certainly overshadowed his renown, just
as a great light eclipses a much smaller one, and although Cimabue
was, as it were, the first cause of the revival of the art of
painting, yet Giotto, his disciple, moved by a praiseworthy ambition,
and aided by Heaven and by Nature, penetrated deeper in thought, and
threw open the gates of Truth to those who afterwards brought art to
that perfection and grandeur which we see in our own age. In fact the
marvels, miracles, and impossibilities executed at the present time
by those who practise this art, and which are to be seen every day,
have brought things to such a pitch, that no one marvels at them
although they are rather divine than human, and those who make the
most praiseworthy efforts may consider themselves fortunate, if,
instead of being praised and admired, they escape censure, and even
disgrace. The portrait of Cimabue by the hand of Simone of Siena may
be seen in the chapter-house of S. Maria Novella, executed in profile
in the picture of the Faith. The face is thin the small beard is
somewhat red and pointed, and he wears a hood after the fashion of
the day, bound gracefully round his head and throat. The one beside
him is Simone himself, the designer of the work, who drew himself
with the aid of two mirrors placed opposite each other, which have
enabled him to draw his head in profile. The soldier in armour
between them is said to be Count Guido Novello, lord of Poppi. In
concluding this life I have to remark that I have some small things
by Cimabue's hand in the beginning of a book in which I have
collected drawings by the hand of every artist, from Cimabue onwards.
These little things of Cimabue are done like miniatures, and although
they may appear rather crude than otherwise to modern eyes, yet they
serve to show to what an extent the art of design profited by his
labours.
Arnolfo di Lapo, Florentine Architect.
In the preface to these lives I have spoken of some edifices in the
old but not antique style, and I was silent respecting the names of
the artists who executed the work, because I did not know them. In
the introduction to the present life I propose to mention some other
buildings made in Arnolfo's time, or shortly before, the authors of
which are equally unknown, and then to speak of those which were
erected during his lifetime, the architects of which are known,
either because they may be recognised through the style of the
buildings, or because there is some notice of them in the writings
and memorials left by them in the works done. This will not be beside
the point, for although the buildings are neither beautiful nor in
good style, but only very large and magnificent, yet they are none
the less worthy of some consideration.
In the time of Lapo, and of Arnolfo his son, many buildings of
importance were erected in Italy and outside, of which I have not
been able to find the names of the architects. Among these are the
abbey of Monreale in Sicily, the Piscopio of Naples, the Certosa of
Pavia, the Duomo of Milan, S. Pietro and S. Petrodio of Bologna, and
many others, which may be seen in all parts of Italy, erected at
incredible cost. I have seen and examined all these buildings, as
well as many sculptures of these times, particularly at Ravenna, but
I have never found any memorial of the masters, and frequently not
even the date when they were erected, so that I cannot but marvel at
the simplicity and indifference to fame exhibited by the men of that
age. But to return to our subject. After the buildings just
enumerated there arose some persons of a more exalted temper, who, if
they did not succeed in lighting upon the good, at least made the
attempt.
The first was Buono, of whom I knew neither the country nor the
surname, since he himself has put nothing beyond his simple name to
the works which he has signed. He was both a sculptor and architect,
and he worked at first in Ravenna, building many palaces and
churches, and executing some sculptures, in the year of grace 1152.
Becoming known by these things, he was summoned to Naples, where he
began the Castel Capoano and the Castel dell' Uovo, although they
were afterwards finished by others, as will be related. Subsequently,
in the time of the Doge Domenico Morosini, he founded the campanile
of S. Marco at Venice, with much prudence and good judgment, and so
well did he drive the piles and lay the foundations of that tower,
that it has never moved a hair's breadth, as many buildings erected
in that city before his time may be seen to have done. Perhaps it was
from him that the Venetians learned their present method of laying
the foundations of the rich and beautiful edifices which are erected
every day to adorn that most noble city. At the same time it must be
admitted that the tower has no other excellence of its own, either in
style or decoration, or indeed anything which is worthy of much
praise. It was finished under the Popes Anastasius IV. and Adrian IV.
in the year 1154. Buono was also the architect of the Church of S.
Andrea at Pistoia, and a marble architrave over the door, full of
figures executed in the Gothic style, is his work; On this architrave
his name is carved, as well as the date at which the work was done by
him, which was in the year 1166. Being afterwards summoned to
Florence, he prepared the design for enlarging the Church of S. Maria
Maggiore, which was carried out. The church was then outside the
city, and was held in veneration, because Pope Pelagius had
consecrated it many years before, and because it was in size and
style a building of considerable merit.
Buono was next invited by the Aretines to their city, where he built
the old residence of the lords of Arezzo, a palace in the Gothic
style, and near it a tower for a bell. This building, which was very
tolerable for that style, was thrown down in 1533 because it was
opposite and too near the fortifications of the city.
The art now began to receive some amount of improvement through the
works of a certain Guglielmo, a German by race, as I believe, and
some buildings were erected at a great expense and in a slightly
better style. In the year 1174 this Guglielmo, in conjunction with
Bonanno, a sculptor, is said to have founded the campanile of the
Duomo at Pisa, where the following words are carved:
_A.D. M..C. 74 campanile hoc fuit fundatum Mense Aug._
But these two architects had not much experience in laying
foundations in Pisa, and since they did not drive in piles as they
should have done, before they were half through the work, there was a
subsidence on one side, and the building leant over on its weaker
side, so that the campanile hangs 6-1/2 braccia out of the straight
according to the subsidence on that side, and although this appears
slight from below, it is very apparent above, so that one is filled
with amazement that the tower can stand thus without falling and
without the walls being cracked. The reason is that the building is
round both within and without, and the stones are so arranged and
bound together, that its fall is all but impossible, and it is
supported moreover by foundations raised 3 braccia above the ground
level, which were made to maintain it after the subsidence had taken
place, as may be seen. Had it been square; I am convinced that it
would not be standing, to-day, as the corners of the square would
have pushed out the sides so that they would have fallen, a thing
which frequently happens. And if the Carisenda tower at Bologna,
which is square, leans without falling, that is because it is
lighter and does not hang over so much, nor is it nearly so heavy a
structure as this campanile, which is praised, not because of its
design or good style, but simply by reason of its extraordinary
position, since to a spectator it does not appear possible that it
can remain standing. The Bonanno mentioned above, while he was
engaged on the campanile, also executed in 1180 the principal door of
the Duomo of Pisa in bronze. On it may be seen these words:
_Ego Bonannus Pis, mea arle hanc portam uno anno perfeci
tempore Benedicti operarii._
That the art was making steady progress may be seen by the walls of
S. Giovanni Lateran at Rome, which were constructed of the spoils of
antiquity under Popes Lucius III. and Urban III., when the Emperor
Frederick was crowned by the latter, because certain small temples
and chapels there, made with these spoils, possess considerable merit
of design and contain some things which are worth notice, and this,
among others, that the vaults were made of small tubes with
compartments of stucco, so as not to overload the side walls of the
buildings, a very praiseworthy contrivance for those times. The
cornices and other parts show that the artists were helping one
another to find the good.