Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects/Cimabue

by Giorgio Vasari

 

CIMABUE, PAINTER, OF FLORENCE.

[1240.———1302.]

The overwhelming flood of evils by which unhappy Italy had been submerged and devastated, had not only destroyed whatever could properly be called buildings, but, a still more deplorable consequence, had totally exterminated the artists themselves,^[1] when, by the will of God, in the year 1240, Giovanni Cimabue, of the noble family of that name,^[2] was born, in the city of Florence, to give the first light to the art of painting. This youth, as he grew up, being considered by his father and others to give proof of an acute judgment and a clear understanding, was sent to Santa Maria Novella to study letters under a relation, who was then master in grammar to the novices of that convent. But Cimabue, instead of devoting himself to letters, consumed the whole day in drawing men, horses, houses, and other various fancies, on his books and different papers,—an occupation to which he felt himself impelled by nature ; and this natural inclination was favoured by fortune, for the governors of the city had invited certain Greek painters to Florence, for the purpose of restoring the art of painting, which had not merely degenerated, but was altogether lost. These artists, among other works, began to paint the chapel of the Gondi, situate next the principal chapel, in Santa Maria Novella,^[3] the roof and walls of which are now almost entirely destroyed by time,—and Cimabue, often escaping from the school, and having already made a commencement in the art he was so fond of, would stand watching those masters at their work, the day through. Judging from these circumstances, his father, as well as the artists themselves, concluded him to be well endowed for painting, and thought that much might be hoped from his future efforts, if he were devoted to that art. Giovanni was accordingly, to his no small satisfaction, placed with those masters. From this time he laboured incessantly, and was so far aided by his natural powers, that he soon greatly surpassed his teachers both in design and colouring. For these masters, caring little for the progress of art, had executed their works as we now see them, not in the excellent manner of the ancient Greeks, but in the rude modern style of their own day. Wherefore, though Cimabue imitated his Greek instructors, he very much improved the art, relieving it greatly from their uncouth manner, and doing honour to his country by the name that he acquired, and by the works which he performed. Of this we have evidence in Florence, from the pictures which he painted there, as, for example, the front of the altar of Santa Cecilia,^[4] and a picture of the Virgin, in Santa Croce, which was, and is still, attached to one of the pilasters on the right of the choir.^[5] After this he painted a small picture of St. Francis,^[6] in panel, on a gold ground, drawing it, a new thing in those times, from nature,^[7] with such means as he could obtain, and placing around it the whole history of the saint in twenty small pictures, full of minute figures, on aground of gold.

Having afterwards undertaken to paint a large picture in the abbey of the Santa Trinita in Florence, for the monks of Vallombrosa, he made great efforts to justify the high opinion already formed of him, and evinced improved powers of invention in that work, and displayed a fine manner in the attitudes of the Virgin, whom he depicted with the child in her arms, and with numerous angels, in the act of worship, around her ; on a gold ground. The picture being finished, was placed by the monks over the high-altar of the church, whence, being afterwards removed to give place to that work of Alexis Baldovinetti,^[8] which remains there to this day, it was placed in a smaller chapel of the south aisle of the same church.

Cimabue next painted in fresco at the hospital of the Porcellana,^[9] at the corner of the Via Nuova, which leads into the Borgo Ogni Santi. On the front of this building, which has the principal door in the centre, he painted the Virgin receiving the annunciation from the angel, on one side, and Jesus Christ, with Cleophas, and Luke, on the other ; all figures of the size of life. In this work he departed still more decidedly from the dry formal manner of his instructors, giving more life and movement to the draperies, vestments, and other accessories, and rendering all more flexible and natural than was common to the manner of those Greeks, whose works were full of hard lines and sharp angles, as well in mosaic as in painting. And this rude, unskilful, and common-place manner, the Greeks had acquired, not so much from study or of settled purpose, as from having servilely followed certain fixed rules and habits, transmitted through a long series of years, by one painter to another down to those times, while none ever thought of the amelioration of his design, the embellishment of his colouring, or the improvement of his invention. This work being completed, Cimabue was again summoned by the same prior, who had employed him for the works of Santa Croce, and he now painted for him a colossal crucifix on wood, which is still to be seen in that church.^[10] The execution of this crucifix gave great satisfaction to the prior, who caused the artist to accompany him to his convent of San Francesco in Pisa, where Cimabue painted a picture of San Francesco. This was considered by the Pisans to be a work of extraordinary merit, having more beauty of expression in the head, and more grace in the draperies, than had ever been seen in the Greek manner up to that time, not only in Pisa, but in Italy.

Cimabue afterwards painted for the same church a large picture of the Virgin, with the Infant in her arms, and with angels around her,—this also was on a gold ground ; it was soon afterwards removed from the position it had first occupied to make way for the marble altar which now stands there, and was placed within the church, near the door, and on the left hand ; for this work Cimabue obtained high praise, and was largely rewarded by the Pisans. In the same city of Pisa, he also painted, at the request of the then abbot of San Paolo in Ripa d’Arno, a small picture of St. Agnes, on panel, with the whole story of her life around her, in small figures ; this picture is now over the altar of the Virgin in the above-named church.^[11] The name of Cimabue becoming widely known by these labours, he was invited to Assisi, a city of Umbria, where, in company with certain Greek masters, he painted a portion of the vaulted roof in the lower church of San Franceso, together with the life of Jesus Christ and that of St. Francis, on the walls of the same church. In these works he greatly surpassed those Greek masters,^[12] and encouraged by this, he began alone to paint the upper church in fresco. In the apsis of the church, beyond the choir, he painted certain passages from the history of the Virgin, in four compartments,—her death, when her soul is borne by Christ to Heaven upon a throne of clouds, —and her coronation, when he places the crown on her head in the midst of a choir of angels ; numerous saints, male and female, standing below ; works now nearly obliterated by time and dust. In the vaults of the roof, which are five, Cimabue depicted various historical scenes in like manner. In the first, over the choir, he placed the four Evangelists, larger than life,^[13] and so well done, that even in our days they are admitted to possess much merit, the freshness of colouring in the flesh-tints proving that painting in fresco was, thanks to the labours of Cimabue, beginning to make important advances. The second vault he adorned with golden stars on a ground of ultramarine. In the third he painted, in medallions, Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mother, St. John the Baptist, and St. Francis, that is, a figure in each medallion, and a medallion in each bay of the vault. Between this and the fifth vault, he painted the fourth, also in stars of gold on a ground of ultramarine, like the second. In the fifth he placed the four Doctors of the Church, and beside each of the Doctors stood a brother of one of the four principal religious orders ; without doubt, a most laborious work, and executed with extreme diligence.^[14] When the vaults were completed, Cimabue next painted the upper part of the wall of the north aisle, also in fresco, through the whole length of the church. Near the high altar, and in the space between the windows entirely up to the roof, he painted eight historical pictures from the Old Testament, beginning with the early chapters of Genesis, and taking the most prominent events in due order. Around the windows, and to the point where they terminate in the allery^[15] which encircles the interior of the building, he depicted the remaining portions of the Old Testament in eight other historical scenes. Opposite to these pictures, and also in sixteen compartments, he painted the lives of the Virgin and of Jesus Christ; while on the end façade, below, over the principal door, and around the rose window, he placed the ascension of the Virgin in heaven, together with the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles.^[16]This work, truly great and rich, and most admirably executed, must, in my opinion, have caused the utmost astonishment in the world of that day, more especially as the art of painting had been for so long a time in complete darkness. To myself, who saw it for the second time in the year 1563, it appearedmost beautiful, more particularly when I considered that obscurity of art from the shades of which Cimabue had found means to elicit so much light. But of all these paintings (a thing which merits consideration), those of the vaults being less exposed to dust and other accidents, are in much better preservation than any of the others.^[17] Having completed these works, Cimabue began to paint the lower part of the walls, namely from the windows downwards, and made some progress therein, but being recalled to Florence by his private affairs, he did not continue this work, and it was finished, as will be seen in its due place, by Giotto, many years after.

Having thus returned to Florence, Cimabue next worked in the cloister of Santo Spirito. The entire side next the church is painted by other masters, in the Greek manner ; but three arches, containing events from the life of Christ, are by his own hand, and certainly display much power of design.^[18] About the same time, he sent some of his works, executed in Florence, to Empoli, where they are still preserved with great veneration in the parochial church of that place.^[19] He afterwards painted the picture of the Virgin, for the church of Santa Maria Novella, where it is suspended on high, between the chapel of the Rucellai family and that of the Bardi, of Vernio.^[20] This picture is of larger size than any figure that had been painted down to those times; and the angels surrounding it, make it evident that, although Cimabue still retained the Greek manner, he was nevertheless gradually approaching the mode of outline and general method of modern times. Thus it happened that this work was an object of so much admiration to the people of that day—they having then never seen anything better—that it was carried in solemn procession, with the sound of trumpets and other festal demonstrations, from the house of Cimabue to the church, he himself being highly rewarded and honoured for it. It is further reported, and may be read in certain records of old painters, that, whilst Cimabue was painting this picture, in a garden near the gate of San Pietro, King Charles^[21] the Elder, of Anjou, passed through Florence, and the authorities of the city, among other marks of respect, conducted him to see the picture of Cimabue. When this work was thus shewn to the king, it had not before been seen by any one; wherefore all the men and women of Florence hastened in great crowds to admire it, making all possible demonstrations of delight. The inhabitants of the neighbourhood, rejoicing in this occurrence, ever afterwards called that place Borgo Allegri; and this name it has ever since retained, although in process of time it became enclosed within the walls of the city.^[22]

In San Francesco of Pisa—where Cimabue painted some other pictures, as has been already remarked—may be seen a painting in distemper, by his hand; it is in the cloister, near the door which leads into the church, and is a small picture representing Christ on the Cross, with numerous angels around him; they are weeping, and supporting with their hands certain words, which are written round the head of Christ, and which they direct towards the ear of the Virgin, who stands, also weeping, on the right hand; while on the left is John the Evangelist, towards whom they likewise direct a portion of the scroll, and whose expression is one of deep grief. The words addressed to the Virgin are, “Mulier ecce filius tuus”, and those to St. John, “Ecce mater tua”. A third sentence, supported by another angel, placed somewhat apart, is as follows: “Ex illâ horâ accepit eam discipulus in suam”. Hence we perceive that Cimabue originated the invention of lending the aid of words to art, for the better expression of the meaning,—certainly a new and peculiar expedient.

By these and other works,^[23] Cimabue had now acquired a great name, as well as large profits, and was appointed—together with Arnolfo Lapi, an artist then highly renownedin architecture—to superintend the building of Santa Maria del Fiore, in Florence. But at length, and when he had lived sixty years, he departed to another life, in the year 1300,^[24] having achieved little less than the resurrection of painting from the dead. He left many disciples, and, among others, Giotto, who afterwards became a most eminent painter, and long dwelt in the house inhabited by his master, in the Via del Cocomero. Cimabue was entombed in Santa Maria del Fiore, the following epitaph being composed on him by one of the Nini :

“Credidit ut Cimabos picturae castra tenere
Sic tenuit, vivens, nunc tenet astra poli.”

I will not omit to observe, that if the greatness of Giotto, his disciple, had not diminished the glory of Cimabue, his fame would have risen still higher, as Dante remarks in his Commedia, where, alluding, in the eleventh canto of the Purgatorio, to this inscription on the tomb,^[25] he says :

“Credette Cimabue nella pintura
Tener lo campo, ed ora ha Giotto il grido,
Si che la fama di colui s’ oscura.”

Alluding to these verses, a commentator of Dante, who wrote while Giotto was still living—ten or twelve years after the death of Dante himself; that is, about the year 1334—has the following remarks. He is speaking of Cimabue, and these are his precise words: “Cimabue, of Florence, a painter of the time of our author, knew more of the noble art than any other man; but he was so arrogant and proud withal, that if any one discovered a fault in his work, or if he perceived one himself (as will often happen to the artist, who fails from the defects in the material that he uses, or from insufficiency of the instrument with which he works), he would instantly destroy that work, however costly it might be. Giotto, of that same city of Florence, was, and is, the most eminent of painters; and his works bear testimony for him in Rome, in Naples, at Avignon, Florence, Padua, and many other parts of the world.”^[26] This commentary is now in the hands of the Rev. Don Vincenzio Borghini, prior of the Innocents, a man not only illustrious for elevation of mind, for goodness, and for learning, but also a lover of, and so well versed in, all the nobler arts, that he has merited to be elected, as by our lord the Duke Cosmo he judiciously has been, to the office of ducal representative (vice-president) in our Academy of Design. But to return to Cimabue : Giotto certainly did obscure his fame, as a great light diminishes the splendour of a lesser one ; so that, although Cimabue may be considered, perhaps, the first cause of the restoration of the art of painting, yet Giotto, his disciple, impelled by laudable ambition, and well aided by heaven and nature, was the man who, attaining to superior elevation of thought, threw open the gates of the true way to those who afterwards exalted the art to that perfection and greatness which it displays in our age ; when, accustomed as men are, daily, to see the prodigies and miracles, nay, the impossibilities, now performed by artists, they have arrived at such a point that they no longer marvel at anything accomplished by men, even though it be more divine than human. Fortunate, indeed, are they who now labour, however meritoriously, if they do not incur blame instead of praise ; nay, if they can even escape disgrace.

The portrait of Cimabue may be seen in the chapter of Santa Maria Novella.^[27] It is by Simon of Siena, and is in his picture of the Church Militant and Triumphant. This portrait is in profile, the face meagre, the beard short, reddish, and pointed ; the head enveloped in a hood, after the manner of that day, which is folded gracefully beneath the chin, and closely wraps the throat. The figure beside Cimabue is Simon of Siena, author of the work, who has painted himself by means of two mirrors, placed opposite each other, and which have enabled him to give his head in profile. The soldier in armour, standing between them, is supposed to be Count Guido Novelli, then Signore of Poppi. Of Cimabue there remains still to say, that, in the commencement of a book wherein I have collected drawings by the hand of every artist who has followed him to these days,^[28] there are some few little things done by him in miniature, from which, although they may now seem rather crude than otherwise, we may yet perceive how greatly the art of design was improved by his labours.

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ARNOLFO DI LAPO, ARCHITECT, OF FLORENCE.

[1232: 1310.]

Having spoken, in my Preface to these Lives, of certain edifices, old, but not antique,^[29] of which I did not name the architects, because they were not known to me, I will now enumerate, in this introduction to the life of Arnolfo, some few other buildings, erected in his time or shortly before it, of which the authors are also unknown, and will afterwards speak of such as were built during his lifetime, and the architects of which are either known or can be ascertained from the mode of the building, and from different notices, writings, and inscriptions, left by them in the works they constructed. Nor will such discourse be out of place; for although these buildings are neither beautiful nor in a good style, but

1. An extravagant exaggeration. But Vasari himself, recalling to mind the different sculptors, architects, and painters, who were exercising their art when Cimabue was born, has virtually retracted these expressions, against which many writers have protested. See Lanzi, History of Painting. London, 1847.
2. Called also Gualtieri. See Baldinucci, vol. i.
3. For the various opinions respecting these Greek or Byzantine works, see Rumohr, Ital. Forsch., Lanzi, History of Painting, etc.
4. This picture was removed from the church of Santa Cecilia to that of San Stefano, and finally to the Gallery of the Uffizj, in Florence. —Florentine edition of 1846.
5. Mentioned also by Cinelli, who says that it was removed from the place in which Vasari saw it, when the church was newly decorated, nor is it now known whither it lias been conveyed.— Ed. Flor. 1846.
6. The Roman edition of 1759, tells us that this picture was still in good preservation, in the chapel of St. Francis, in the church of Santa Croce. Lanzi does not consider it to be the work of Cimabue. See History of Painting.
7. Here we are not to understand that Cimabue painted from the saint himself, who had then been dead many years, but from some living model. Della Valle, speaking on this subject, remarks that, in Assisi, Giunta Pisano also painted the Frate Elia from nature; and this may be literally true, since the Frate Elia was a contemporary of Giunta Pisano.
8. The picture of Baldovinetti was in its turn removed, to make way for Dandini’s painting of the Trinity. The work of Cimabue is now in the Academy of the Fine Arts, in Florence.
9. So called from a prefect of that name, who governed the Hospital in the fourteenth century. It is almost needless to say that this painting is destroyed.
10. This Crucifix is now placed in the corridor leading from the church of Santa Croce to the chapel of the Pazzi, and is tolerably well preserved. — Schorn.
11. All the pictures painted by Cimabue in Pisa have perished ; but we know that the large picture of the Virgin, etc., was taken to Paris, where it has remained. There are still two paintings by Cimabue in the Louvre — the Virgin with Angels, and the Virgin with the Infant Jesus.
12. Cimabue here merits the praise, not of surpassing those Greek masters only, but also of improving on the manner of his instructor, Giunta Pisano. —Della Valle.
13. Of these figures no trace now remains.—Schorn.
14. he paintings of the third and fifth vault are still well preserved. —Schorn.
15. Triforium.
16. Della Valle attributes only a part of these paintings to Cimabue. They are now all greatly injured, and become almost indistinguishable. The Reconciliation of Joseph with his Brethren, near the door on the north side, is the only one still remaining in tolerably good preservation.—Schorn.
17. Writers are far from agreeing as regards the paintings of this church, and their authors. Thus Father Angeli, Storia della Basilica D’Assisi, attributes the Assumption of the Virgin with Saints beneath, to Giunta Pisano, although Vasari praises it as the work of Cimabue. D’Agincourt also enumerates it among his plates 102) with those assigned to Giunta. See also Rosini, Storia della Pittura Italiana, vol. i, p. 110. Rumohr asserts that Vasari had no authority whatever for stating that Cimabue painted in the upper church of San Francesco D’Assisi. See Ital. Forsch, vol. ii, sec. 8.
18. These paintings of Cimabue, as well as those of the other masters, are entirely destroyed.
19. Some remains of ancient paintings are still to be seen in this Chapter-House, but none of them appear to be of the time or manner of Cimabue.— Florentine edition of 1846.
20. This picture, still in very fair preservation, is in the chapel of the Rucellai family; and whoever will examine it carefully, comparing it, not only with works produced before the time of Cimabue, but also with those painted after him by the Florentine masters, preceding Giotto, will perceive that the praises of Vasari are justified in every particular. —Ed. Flor. 1846.
21. Brother of St. Louis, and crowned King of Sicily by Clement IV, in the year 1266. According to Vasari, who gives 1240 as the year of Cimabue’s birth, the latter must then have been but twenty-six years old, although he had already completed so many great works. The doubtful character of this anecdote is manifest; but the painting is still in the church of Santa Maria Novella. The heads of the Virgin, of the Child, and of the Angels, are all fine, but the hands are badly drawn. The throne and ground are covered with gold. —Schorn. See also Rumohr, vol. ii, p. 31.
22. This name of Borgo Allegri is derived, according to Cinelli, from the family of Allegri. —Ed. Flor.
23. Bottari tells us that in addition to these works, and others previously mentioned by Vasari, there still remain a Madonna (restored) in the convent of San Paolino, in Florence ; a second in that of Ognissanti ; a Crucifix, in the monastery of San Jacopo di Ripoli, etc. etc. This Crucifix, if, indeed, it be by Cimabue, may still be seen in the monastery. Morelli affirms that he also painted in the church of the Carmine, in Padua ; and that, when this church was burnt, a Head of St. John, by his hand, was rescued, and preserved, as a precious relic, in the house of Alessandro Cappella. — Maselli. Schorn.
24. From a document cited by Ciampi, it appears that Cimabue was executing a St. John, in mosaic, for the Duomo of Pisa, in 1302; and, as he left this figure unfinished, it may be inferred that he did not long survive that year. He died at Florence, and was buried in the church of Santa Maria del Fiore.
25. The contrary is the fact, since the epitaph must have been written subsequently to those lines of Dante.
26. This Commentary is that known to the learned under the title of the “Anonimo”. It was first published in Fisa by Alessandro Torri, 1827-30.—Ed. Flor
27. From this portrait Vasari took the head of Cimabue, which he placed before the life of that artist in his second edition.
28. Baldinucci relates, in the life of Passignano, that five volumes of drawings were sold for several thousand crowns to certain merchants, by the Cav. Gaddi, these volumes being the celebrated book so frequently mentioned by Vasari in these “Lives.” Some thousands of drawings by the most eminent masters were afterwards collected by Cardinal Leopoldo de’ Medici, and among these were many which had belonged to the biographer of Arezzo (Vasari). Baldinucci further says, in his “Address to the Reader,” and in his letters to the Marquis Vincenzo Capponi, that he had himself advised Cardinal Leopoldo to arrange the large mass of drawings collected, in chronological order, and had even been entrusted with this labour by the Cardinal, and afterwards by Cosmo III ; but Giovanni Cinelli, in his bitter “Critica,” not only refuses the merit of proposing this arrangement to Baldinucci, but denies that he superintended it, and gives all the credit of that work to the Count Carlo Cesare Malvasia, of Bologna, who was assisted by the councils of Volterrano, of Lippi, and of the Cardinal himself. The greater part of the collection was sent to the Gallery of the Uffizj, in the year 1700, where the vast number of drawings would now make it difficult to distinguish those collected by Vasari. It is true, that this series, lately arranged anew, commences with “certain little things done in miniature’’ on parchment, which are attributed to Cimabue, and may be those here alluded to by Vasari. Many other drawings belonging to Vasari became the property of Crozat, who published a part of them.—Ed. Flor.
29. A distinction, which Vasari has made towards the end of his “Introduction to the Lives,” where he explains what he means by “old”, and what by “antique,” see ante, page 31.