Giovanni Cimabue

Cimabue stands at the start of Italian painting. He worked in the Byzantine tradition of gold backgrounds and stylised figures, but gave his saints and Madonnas more natural proportions and more shading, so they begin to look solid and real.

He was born in Florence and died in Pisa. Very little is recorded about his life, and none of his works is signed or dated. His great Maestà from Santa Trinita, a huge enthroned Madonna, is in the Uffizi. His painted Crucifix in Santa Croce was badly damaged in the 1966 flood and restored. He also painted frescoes in the Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi. Tradition says he taught Giotto, and Dante mentions him in the Divine Comedy.

Madonna Enthroned with the Child and Two Angels shows his gold and his gentle faces. Look at the rich patterns of the throne.