The Lives of the Painters, Sculptors & Architects, Volume 1 (of 8)Vasari, Giorgio
History
The Lives of the Painters, Sculptors & Architects, Volume 1 (of 8)
Vasari, Giorgio
Art, Italian; Artists -- Italy -- Biography
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 picturae 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."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account