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[Illustration: FIG. 23.--ORCAGNA, PARADISE (DETAIL). S. M. NOVELLA,
FLORENCE.]
FLORENTINE SCHOOL: Cimabue (1240?-1302?) seems the most notable
instance in early times of a Byzantine-educated painter who improved
upon the traditions. He has been called the father of Italian
painting, but Italian painting had no father. Cimabue was simply a man
of more originality and ability than his contemporaries, and departed
further from the art teachings of the time without decidedly opposing
them. He retained the Byzantine pattern, but loosened the lines of
drapery somewhat, turned the head to one side, infused the figure with
a little appearance of life. His contemporaries elsewhere in Italy
were doing the same thing, and none of them was any more than a link
in the progressive chain.
Cimabue's pupil, Giotto (1266?-1337), was a great improver on all his
predecessors because he was a man of extraordinary genius. He would
have been great in any time, and yet he was not great enough to throw
off wholly the Byzantine traditions.


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