Artist 37: Cimabue

Cimabue was born in around 1240 in Florence. He was the teacher of Giotto, and worked in the Byzantine style, which was more or less of a Medieval style. One of his most famous pieces, the "Maesta," pictured here, has very distinct characteristics, and, while it is an amazing piece, it is obviously lacking in some things that Giotto was able to achieve. Some of these characteristics include that all of the figures have the same face, there really is no, or very little, if any, variation. Also, all of the figures seem to be standing on bleachers, they are stacked up on one another and there really is no depth in the work. Another thing to be aware of is that the size of the figures are obviously off, as the Virgin is huge compared to everyone else. The body of the Christ child is also rather odd, he seems more like a shrunken adult, rather than a baby or child. This being said, for the time that it was created, and even today this is a breathtaking piece. In fact, it inspires me to try, possibly just for fun, a more primitive style of painting, throwing caution to the wind and ignoring things such as depth and proportions! Well, maybe.