The Life and Identity of Cimabue In the bustling streets of Florence, Italy, a man named Giovanni Cimabue began his life around 1240. He was known to many by the names Cenni di Pepo or Cenni di Pepi, names that belonged to a man destined to shape the visual language of his age. He was a painter and a designer of mosaics, a craftsman whose hands worked with both the delicate brush and the enduring stone. His spirit was said to be strong, perhaps even rebellious, earning him a nickname that suggested a bull-headed determination. This stubbornness was not a flaw, but rather the driving force th…