Cimabue
GIOVANNI (che-mä-bö'ā), a distinguished Florentine painter; born about 1240.
Very little is known of his life, but he is said to have been a disciple of Giunta of Pisa; and he was one of the earliest painters who left off copying the hard and unnatural drawing of the Byzantine school, studied nature for himself, and contributed powerfully to the revival of art. The colossal "Madonna," which he painted for the Rucellai Chapel, in the Church of Santa Maria Novella, Florence, is said to have excited extraordinary enthusiasm, and to have been carried in procession to the church, where it still remains. It was Cimabue who first discovered the genius of Giotto. He died about 1302.