Leon Battista Alberti

• Leon Battista Alberti was born in 1404

in Genoa.
• His mother is not known, and his father
was a wealthy Florentine who had been
exiled from his own city, allowed to return
in 1428.
• Alberti was sent to boarding school in
Padua, then studied Law at Bologna He
lived for a time in Florence, then travelled
to Rome in 1431 where he took holy
orders and entered the service of the
papal court. During this time he studied
the ancient ruins, which excited his
interest in architecture and strongly
influenced the form of the buildings that
he designed.
 Contribution of Alberti
• Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472) was an Italian architect
• Leon Battista Alberti, as a scholar and philosopher who moved in humanist
circles in Florence and the papal court in Rome, was involved in all the
central concepts of the Renaissance
• Humanist philosopher, writer, Renaissance architect and artistic theorist,
Leon Battista Alberti is considered by many scholars to be the quintessential
Renaissance "universal man" of learning.
• Leon Battista Alberti wrote the first book on Italian grammar and a
groundbreaking work on cryptography. He is credited with inventing the
cypher wheel.
• Alberti never received a formal architectural education. His architectural
ideas were the product of his own studies and research.
• Alberta's two main architectural writings are "De Pictura" (1435), in which
he emphatically declares the importance of painting as a base for
architecture and "De Re Aedificatoria" (1450) his theoretical masterpiece
 Principles by Alberti
• Alberti drew upon principles of geometry
and balance to describe an artificial system
of ―perspective‖ a term whose etymology
reveals its origins in Renaissance efforts to
―see through‖ the picture plane. The
intricacies of the outline, the reception of
light, and the necessity for a varied, yet
balanced, composition are given detailed
treatment. Nothing if not thorough, Alberti
even prescribes the most pleasing way to
depict branches, leaves, hair and clothing
when a gentle breeze is blowing.
Architectural works of Alberti
 The Gothic church of S.Francesco
In 1450 Alberti was commissioned to transform the Gothic church of S. Francesco.
The unfinished Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini (1450) was the first building that
Alberti designed and attempted to build based on his architectural principals
• The church is usually known as the Tempio Malatestiano. Its dominating form is
the classical triumphal arch, Alberti's favorite structure, but the severe,
restrained façade was never quite finished.
• Tempio Malatestiano, the façade of Santa Maria Novella in Florence is
considered to be a landmark in the formation of Renaissance architecture
 Santa Maria Novella
• The facade of Santa Maria Novella (1458-71) is considered his
greatest achievement since it allows the pre-existing and newly
added parts of the building to merge into a clear statement of his
new principles.
 S. Sebastiano
• The only buildings Alberti designed entirely was S. Sebastiano (1460), still
under work during Alberti's lifetime, and S. Andrea (1470), completed in
the 18th century
 Palazzo Rucellai
• Palazzo Rucellai is a fifteenth-century palace in the Piazza de' Rucellai,
Florence, Italy, designed by Leon Battista Alberti between 1446 and 1451.
• The three storeys of the facade have different classical orders, as in the
Colosseum, but with the Tuscan order at the base, an Alberti original in place
of Ionic order at the second level, and a very simplified Corinthian order at the
top level.
 Basilica of Sant'Andrea
• On the facade, [Ablerti] combined two of his favorite ancient images—the
pedimented temple front (pilasters, entablature, trabeation, and triangular
pediment) and the triadic triumphal arch (arched central section and lower portals
on either side).
• The height of the facade equals its width, but the barrel vault of the nave reached
well above the apex of the pediment, which was also surmounted by a large
canopy over the nave
His work is not just limited to Architecture. He is a painter, writer
and a philosopher.
Most of his work is dedicated to humanism.
Alberti’s interest related to art and proportion shown into its
designs of architecturs elements.
Proportion, harmony and geometry can be seen very clearly in
his works
 Referance
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_Sant%27Andrea,_Mantua
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Battista_Alberti
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palazzo_Rucellai
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Sebastiano_(Mantua)
Thank you