CILICIA
771
CIMABUE
liy the works of Correggio. His first important work
was the ornamentation for Cardinal Farnese of the
great salon of his palace at Bologna. In the same city
he painted scenes in the style of Correggio represent-
ing events in Bologna at the time of the plague. They
are in the church of San Michele in Boseo, and each
picture is supported by two angels of remarkable
beauty. He executed a fine piece of interior decora-
tion in t he palace of the Duke of Parma and for it re-
ceived the honour of knighthood. His great achieve-
ment is the painting of the "Assumption of the Virgin"
in the cupola of Fori! cathedral. On this immense
work lie was engaged from 1681 to 1706, and on its
completion was elected to high office in that town and
appointed by Clement XI president of the Academy
of Bologna. There is a grandeur and profundity
about his work hardly warranted hy its actual ex-
ecution. His colouring is suave, his draw
ing on the whole accurate but not devoid
of clever trickery, and his paintings
were executed with extraordinary
facility. There are three of
his works at Copenhagen,
several in Vienna, his own
portrait at Florence, and
others at Berlin and Munich.
He died at Forli in 1719.
(2) Felice, his son, suc- ceeded to the ample fortune left l>y his father, and prac- tised his art rather from in- clination than as an actual professional artist. He was born in 1660 and died in 1724; m Bologna in two oi the churches are clever, dex- terous, and well-coloured paintings which arc his work.
(3) Paolo waa another pupil
of the elder artist and his nephew. He was born at Bologna in 1709 and died in 1764. His style is effec- tive, refined, and highly fin- ished, but only three of his paintings are known to pres- ent -day critics.
L \N7i, Storia Pittorica QBassano
1801 Bl Ml. 1/v !",//.•> ,m Bologn-
ese Painters; Zahottx, V.
George Charles
Williamson.
Cilicia. See Asia Minor.
Cilicia, Patriarch of. See Armenia.
Cimabue, Cenni i>i Pepo, Florentine painter, b. 1240; d. after 1301: the legendary founder of Italian painting and the reputed master of Giotto, Vasari begins his biography with these words: "In I lie II. i. »l ..I disasters which had overwhelmed unfor- tunate Italy not only all monuments of art worthy oe but also all artists had disappeared, when, in 121(1. Cimabue was born in the city of Florence, of the noble Cimabue family of the period, to illumine, as it were, the way towards the art of painting." Then follows the story of the painter's childhood. According to Vasari some ( 1 reeks who had settled in Florence were his masters but he soi d them, and his reputation
became so great that Charles of Anjou i visit him in hi-- studio. When he completed his famous " Madonna, the people bore it in triumph to Santa Maria Novella, with such jubilation that the section where the painter lived was afterwards called the Borgo Allegri.
All this has since been proved untrue, and is attributed to the zeal of Vasari, the Italian historian
of art , for the glory of Florence, his native city. The
so-called barbarism of the thirteenth century is no
longer credited. This was, on the contrary, the age
of the true Renaissance. The cathedrals of Pisa,
Lucca, and Pistoia had been built; the basilica of
Assisi and the Abbey of S. Galgano were already in
the course of construction. In Rome this was the
era of the great Cosmati family, of Torriti, and
Cavallini, in Sicily of those wonderful sculptors,
Ravelloand Capone. At Pisa (1260) it was marked by
the completion of the famous pulpit of the baptistery,
the work of Nieolo Pisano, and the first classical work
of art in Italy. Yet this is what Vasari called the
"barbarism of the thirteenth century". The story
of Cimabue is a curious example of false historical
data. It frequently happened among the ancients
that the victorious race stole even the past
laurels of the vanquished, appropriating their
gods, their legends, and their myths.
Similarly a rivalry existed in the Mid-
dle Ages between the Republics of
Siena and Florence. Florence
could never pardon Siena for
its great victory of Monta-
perti (1260), and this was
the cause of much trouble
between the two. The fif-
teenth and sixteenth cen-
tum-, the most brilliant era
of Florence, marked Siena's
downfall. Florence alone
possessed artists and writ-
ers. By means of the print-
ing press the Florentines
spread broadcast boasting
accounts of themselves,
and these errors became
fixed.
Nothing availed against such a lea— of official falsehoods. It needed all the patience of the modern critic to right these wrongs. It is now es tablished that the famous "Madonna" of Santa Maria Novella, called the "Ma- donna Hueecllai", is the work of the great artist of Siena, Duccio di Buonin- segna, who painted it in 1285 for the altar of the Brotherhood of the Blessed Virgin. These facts are proved by the discovery of a contract preserved in the records of Florence, and also from the evident re- lationship between this immortal work of art and other works of Duccio. Again it has been discovered that the triumphal procession to which Vasari re- fers in his account of Cimabue was held not in Florence, but in Siena (9 June, 1311), in honour of another masterpiece of this same Duccio, the great Mtirsli'i, or "Madonna of Majesty", which may now be seen at the Opera del Duomo in Siena. Thai day, writes an eyewitness, : i public feast was • ■nl lined in Siena. All the shops were closed. The bishop, i he clergy, the Council of Nine, with a multi- tude "t people, went to seek the masterpiece in the house of the painter, near the Porta Stalloreggi, and accompanied it as far as the cathedral, bear- ing torches and singing eantieles. Thenceforward Siena took, in all public acts, the name of < Virginia.
It is evident that these comprise all the elements
of the assumed biography of Cimabue. Tradition
contented with a change of name. Duccio was
forgotten, and the memory of his triumphs remained
