
by Cimabue, 1290
Cimabue painted this large panel around 1280-1290 for the main altar of the Vallombrosan Church of Santa Trinita in Florence. The Virgin Mary sits enthroned with the Christ Child, surrounded by eight angels. Four prophets appear in half-length portraits at the base, holding scrolls that allude to the Incarnation and Mary's virginity.
The throne is depicted from an innovative frontal view with a sense of three-dimensional depth unusual for the time. Though Cimabue worked within Byzantine traditions, the throne's architectural mass and the gentle expressions on the Virgin and angels hint at the naturalism that would define younger artists like Giotto, his own pupil.
The painting lost favor as styles changed, eventually being removed from Santa Trinita and passed between locations. It reached the Galleria dell'Accademia in the early 19th century and transferred to the Uffizi in 1919. Today it hangs in a room with two other monumental Maestà paintings by Duccio and Giotto, allowing direct comparison of three masters who shaped Italian art.

Leonardo da Vinci
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Florence

Sandro Botticelli, 1482
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Florence

Sandro Botticelli
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Florence

Fra Angelico
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Florence
Other masterpieces from the Renaissance movement

Raphael, 1512
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden, Dresden

Sandro Botticelli, 1485
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Florence

Raphael, 1511
Vatican Museums, Vatican City

Raphael, 1510
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Titian, 1538
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Florence

Titian, 1555
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

El Greco, 1614
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Sandro Botticelli, 1482
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Florence
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