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 7th Centenary of the Death of Cimabue (Issue of 2002) Top: Crucifix of the Church of Saint Dominic at Arezzo (Scott 1228) Details from the Crucifix: Left: Jesus Christ (Scott 1229) Center: Blessed Virgin Mary (Scott 1230) Right: Saint John (Scott 1231) Vatican City issued four stamps on September 26, 2002 to commemorate the death of the early Italian painter Cimabue. He died in 1302 at Pisa. Little is known about the early life of Cimabue, who is also known as Cenni di Pepo. He was born around 1240 and worked primarily around Florence. He was one of the first Italian painters to break from the prevalent style of his time (which may be categorized as Byzantine) to create a style where figures were more lifelike in their proportions and shading. Although not as well known as some of the artists who came after him, it is believed that Cimabue was the teacher of Giotto, cited by many as the first great artist of the early Italian Renaissance era. Perhaps Cimabue's lack of fame comes from the unfortunate fact that the vast majority of his works have not survived or are in poor condition. Many of his works have been damaged or destroyed over the years due to poor conservation and the ravages of time and nature. For example, his Crucifix of the Church of Santa Croce in Florence was almost completely destroyed in the floods of 1966 (it has since been restored). Another set of his works resides at the Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi. The fresco Madonna with Child Enthroned, Four Angels and St Francis was damaged during the earthquake of 1997 (the left portion of this fresco has been lost). Another group of frescoes at Assisi, showing scenes from the Gospels and the lives of the Virgin Mary, Saint Peter and Saint Paul, are now in poor condition because of oxidation of the brighter colors used by the artist. As a result, the Crucifix at Saint Dominic, depicted in the stamps shown above, remains as perhaps his best remaining preserved work. Here is a photograph of the Crucifix:  Crucifix of the Church of Saint Dominic at Arezzo Photograph by Miguel Hermoso Cuesta From Wikimedia Commons, used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license REFERENCES: |
