Holly Flora, Cimabue and the Franciscans. Renovatio Artium. Studies of Art in the Renaissance. London andTurnhout: Harvey Miller Publishers for Brepols, 2018, 287 pp., 152 color photographs.

The painter Cimabue (ca. 1240–1302) has long been recognized as “the first light of the Italian Renaissance.” With his reliance on classical paradigms (via the Byzantine) and renewal of the practice of naturalism in art, Cimabue’s revolutionary impact is recognized to this day. However, as explained by Holly Flora in her compelling new book, the