Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/594

 582 CIMAROSA CIMBRI died about 1302. He was of noble birth, and while a pupil in the school of the convent of Santa Maria Novella manifested such an apti- tude for painting that his parents allowed him to receive instructions, according to Vasari, from some Greek artists who were then resto- ring the old paintings in the convent chapel. According to others, Giunta Pisano, an artist of considerable merit, was his instructor ; and as Guido da Siena is known to have painted as early as 1221, Cimabue's claim to the distinc- tion which tradition and the zeal of his coun- tryman Vasari have conferred upon him is by no means free from doubt. His models, how- ever, were clearly Byzantine, and his earlier works are strongly marked by the character- istics of that school. His great merit consists in his efforts to break away from the formal monotony of his Greek models. The earliest of his works, a St. Cecilia, is still preserved in the church of San Stefano, and a large portion of the frescoes in the celebrated church of St. Francis in Assisi, commenced by Greek paint- ers and continued by Giunta Pisano, are by his hand. Besides these, almost every great Eu- ropean collection contains a specimen of him. In the prime of life he painted his chief work, a colossal madonna and child, for the church of Santa Maria Novella, where it now hangs. The legend states that the Florentine populace testified their wonder and delight at this novel creation of art by carrying it in a triumphal procession to the church. Cimabue's fame thenceforth spread over Italy, and he estab- lished a school of painting, in which his ideas received a new development. He evinced a generous appreciation of Giotto, whom tradition says he discovered drawing figures upon the smooth surface of a rock while tending his sheep, and whom he took with him to Florence, and instructed to such purpose that the pupil soon outstripped his master. Cimabue im- roved little upon the Byzantines in his ma- onnas, but his patriarchs and apostles have a grand and impressive character. He is de- scribed as haughty and disdainful, and exceed- ingly proud of his lineage, as well as of his ac- quirements in literature and art. (IMAROSA, Domenlco, an Italian composer, born at A versa about 1750, died in Venice, Jan. 11, 1801. He studied music under Fe- naroli, a pupil of Durante, and soon became so celebrated for his operas composed for the Ital- ian theatres that in 1787 Catharine II. of Rus- sia invited him to become dramatic composer to her court. In 1791 he became director of the Italian opera at Vienna. Here in 1792 he composed H matrimonio segreto, esteemed his greatest opera, which was received throughout Europe with enthusiasm. A peculiarity of it is that brass instruments are excluded from the orchestra, and the other wind instruments are very sparingly used. The accompaniments, nevertheless, are of a rich and brilliant charac- ter. The career of Cimarosa in Vienna was .cut short by the death of the emperor Leopold II. in 1792, after which he returned to Naples, where he produced some of his finest works, including 77 matrimonio per vusurro, La Pene- lope, ISOlimpiade, II sacrifizio d'Abramo, Gli amanti comici, and Gli Orazi. During the French occupation of Naples in 1799, Cimarosa avowed himself so openly in favor of revolu- tionary doctrines that upon the return of the Bourbons he was thrown into prison, where he languished in close confinement for many months. Released in 1800 on condition that he would quit the Neapolitan territory, he repair- ed to Venice, where he died the following year, in consequence, it is said, of the treatment to which he had been subjected. During his residence in Venice he brought out his opera L 'Jmprudente fortunato, and had partly com- posed another called Artemisia at the time of his death. Among his works are 69 operas, 4 oratorios, 3 cantatas, 2 requiems, and a mass, besides much miscellaneous sacred music, and 500 detached pieces composed during his resi- dence at St. Petersburg. CIMBRI, a warlike people of antiquity, who first appear in the history of the Romans in the year 1 13 B. C. Together with the Teutons they left their abodes in N. W. Germany with their families, wagons, and cattle, in great numbers, attacked their western neighbors, were repulsed, and, turning their arms south- ward, crossed the eastern Alps and entered II- lyricum, then recently made a Roman province. Their original abode is not known. Some of the later historians suppose them to be Ger- mans, like the Teutons, and inhabitants of the shores of the North sea; so Caesar, Tacitus, and Pliny, who gave the name of Chersonesus Cimbrica to modern Jutland. Others, like Sallust, suppose them to be Gauls ; Greek wri- ters connect their name and history with those of the Scythian Cimmerii of the Crimean penin- sula; some modern critics regard them as Celts and relatives of the Cymry of Britain. The consul Papirius Carbo first met them in the field near Noreia, in Styria, when the valor of the huge barbarians and their numbers over- whelmed the Romans, and their devastations spread terror all around. They could have easily penetrated into Italy, but choosing to take their course westward, they passed over the Rhine and pillaged Gaul. Another consular army sent thither was also routed in 109; but their offer of alliance and request for lands were rejected by the Romans. Their new allies, the Helvetians, defeated the consul Longinus, who fell in the battle, while his legate was routed by the chief body of the invaders. They next moved in the direction of Italy, crowds of Gauls joining them, and near the Rh6ne two other consular armies were defeated and their camps taken. The way to Italy was open; terror reigned in Rome. It then happened, for the first time in that city, that no candidate for the consulship appeared. But the Cimbri happily chose another way, passed the Pyre- nees, and plundered Spain for a couple of years ;