Cimabue, Giovanni Gualtieri

Cimabue, Giovanni Gualtieri an Italian painter, was born at Florence in 1240. He seems to have rescued the art from. its gross and barbarous state, so that he has been called the father of modern painters. He learned his peculiar skill from some Greek artists who were employed in the Church of Santa Maria Novella. His productions, at that time, were regarded with the greatest astonishment, and when he had finished his picture of the Virgin, the Florentines carried it in procession to the above-named church. Few of his works have remained to the present day. However, in Santa Croce, at Florence, is still preserved his St. Francis, and in San Stefano his St. Cecilia. Cimabue died in 1310. See Spooner, Biog. Hist. of the Fine Arts, s.v.; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Generale, s.v.