Cimabu�, Giovanni c.1240-c.1302
Italian painter

Bornin Florence, he is famous chiefly as the teacher of Giotto. He was the first artist to move away from the stylized and rigid conventions of Byzantine art. In doing so, he paved the way for his pupil's humanistic naturalism which in turn forms the basis of Italian art. He is mentioned by Dante as having his reputation eclipsed by Giotto. Early critics attribute the famous Rucellai Madonna to him, but this is now generally believed to be by Duccio. Cimabu� is known to have been in Rome in 1272 and is documented as having worked on the mosaic figure of Saint John in the apse of Pisa Cathedral in 1302. He also executed several important works in the Lower Church of San Francesco at Assisi.