ILLUSTRATION I
early Tuscan representation
Maestà di Santa Trinita (1280-85), Uffizi Gallery, Florence,by Cimabue, 1240-1302, Florentine painter & designer of mosaics; heavily influenced by Byzantine models, regarded as one of the first great Italian painters to break from the Italo-Byzantine style. Medieval art was characterized by flat scenes & forms, highly stylized; in contrast Cimabue's figures were depicted with more-advanced lifelike proportions & shading than other artists of his time. Vasari claims Cimabue taught Giotto.
Etruscan tomb painting
Tomb of the Infernal Chariot, in the Pianacce Necropolis, Sarteano, 4th century BC; painting cycle dedicated to the divine realm. In the first scene, a red-haired demon guides a cart attached to two griffins and two lions, enveloped in a black cloud, while on the same wall, there are paintings of the two deceased feasting in the afterlife; the other wall contains a depiction of a large three-headed serpent.
