The unique works of the early Renaissance are presented in the Louvre with amazing fullness. The director of the Museum of Napoleon assembled this priceless collection, the so-called Louvre, Baron Vivant-Denon. After the fall of Napoleon, the commission, designed to return the Tuscan paintings to Italy, did not claim them.
One of the gems of this collection was the altar image from the Church of San Francesco in Pisa with the image of Our Lady on the throne with the Child surrounded by angels. This altar door dates back to the end of the 13th century. The painting that entered the Louvre in 1814 is very large – the largest in the painting section of the early Renaissance. It most clearly reflects the transition from the Byzantine style that prevailed at that time to the particular fluidity of the lines, which would become an integral part of Tuscan art.
The famous art historian Giorgio Vasari considered it the work of the Tuscan artist Cimabue, although the second altar casement, now located in Florence, is attributed to Duccio, Cimabue’s Sienna counterpart, and is considered later.
This altar opens in the picturesque art that new kind of works, which bears the imprint of their creators. The memory of such a person as Cimabue was alive and three centuries later, when Vasari wrote a chronicle of the Renaissance called “The life-descriptions of the most famous painters, sculptors and architects.” According to Vasari, Cimabue was very stubborn, for which he received the nickname “Bull Head”. In his images there is always a special tension, palpable in the open, looking directly at us views.
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