The architecture of Leon Batista Alberti. In ten books. Of painting. In three books. And of statuary. In one book. Translated into Italian by Cosimo Bartoli. And into English by James Leoni
Leon Battista Alberti was an Italian humanist artist, architect, poet, linguist, philosopher and cryptographer.
Background
Leon Battista Alberti was born in 1404, February 14, in Genoa, Italy. In the twelfth century Alberti’s ancestors were feudal lords of Valdarno who settled in Florence, where they became judges and notaries and were members of the wealthy bourgeoisie. In the fourteenth century they engaged in commercial and banking enterprises, organizing a firm with branches scattered all over Europe; their wealth enriched Florence. At the same time, the Albertis became involved in politics. Toward the end of the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth centuries, this led to the family’s exile; they sought refuge in the foreign branches of their firm. Thus Leone Battista Alberti, the son of Lorenzo Alberti, came to be born in Genoa. It is possible that he was illegitimate.
From his early childhood Alberti is said to have been precocious; little else is known about his youth. Fleeing the plague, his father went to Venice, the site of perhaps the most important branch of the house of Alberti. The father died suddenly, leaving his children in the care of their uncle, who disappeared soon thereafter. It is possible that unscrupulous relatives liquidated the Venice branch in order to make themselves rich at the orphans’ expense.
Education
As a young boy, Leon Battista attended the famous school of the humanist Gasparino Barzizza in Padua. Alberti seems to have started his advanced education at Padua. At any rate, after 1421 he continued it at Bologna, where he began the study of law. Overwork caused him to fall ill, and he had to interrupt his studies. For relaxation he took up the study of mathematics, natural sciences, and physics, subjects that he pursued to a rather advanced level. He received a degree in canon law prior to 1428, and it is probable that after earning his degree in Bologna he went to Rome.
Sometime before 1431 Alberti was appointed prior of S. Martino in Gangalandi, Tuscany, which benefice he held until his death. In 1431 and early 1432 he accompanied Cardinal Albergati on a tour of northern Europe.
In June 1434 Alberti accompanied the court of Pope Eugenius IV to Florence when it fled from the unrest in Rome. Florence, under the leadership of artists such as Donatello, Masaccio, and Filippo Brunelleschi, was then the art capital of Europe. Thus, he was inspired to create his treatise in Latin on painting, De pictura, that was completed in 1435; the following year he prepared in Italian a briefer, more popular version, Della pittura. The treatise explained for the first time in writing the mathematical foundations of one-point linear perspective as it was developed by the architect Brunelleschi, to whom the Italian version was dedicated; it also discussed antique themes and their appropriate expression.
A Latin treatise on sculpture, De sculptura, may have originated at this time, although there is much uncertainty about its date. Alberti's treatise on the horse, De equo animante, is related to this commission. His philosophical dialogue on peace of mind, Della tranquillità dell'animo, probably dates from the same period.
Alberti followed the papal court back to Rome in September 1443 and, probably at the instigation of Leonello d'Este, began to write the first five books of his important Latin treatise on architecture, De re aedificatoria. After Nicholas V was elected pope in 1447, Alberti finished the remaining five books, and the complete work was presented to the Pope in 1452 (first printed in 1485).
The Rucellai Palace in Florence was begun by Alberti about 1447 and completed in 1451. In 1450 Sigismondo Malatesta commissioned Alberti to refurbish the Gothic church of S. Francesco at Rimini, later known as the Tempio Malatestiano. Giovanni Rucellai, whose palace Alberti had designed, commissioned him in 1458 to complete the facade of the great Gothic church of S. Maria Novella in Florence. He also renovated the family chapel in S. Pancrazio for Rucellai and executed the Shrine of the Holy Sepulcher for the chapel in 1467. For the church of S. Andrea in Mantua, he designed in 1470 a great Latin cross plan with transept and domed crossing; he described it as an "Etruscan temple." At the same time Alberti wrote a treatise on morality, De iciarchia, lamenting the corruption of the times.
Alberti died in Rome on April 25, 1472 at the age of 68.
Leon Battista Alberti was the creator of a theory called "historia". In his famous treatise De pictura (1435) he explained the first scientific study of perspective. He was the author of an influential work on architecture, De Re Aedificatoria, which was translated into many languages and became fundamental. He used his artistic treatises to propound a new humanistic theory of art. Alberti also was an accomplished cryptographer, and invented the first polyalphabetic cipher, which is now known as the Alberti cipher, and machine-assisted encryption using his Cipher Disk. Besides, he designed such famous buildings as Palazzo Rucellai and Santa Maria Novella.
Alberti was concerned with reforming his society and the arts in the image of ancient Roman culture.
Personality
Alberti was tall, strong and a fine athlete who could ride the wildest horse and jump over a man's head. He loved animals and had a pet dog, a mongrel.
Vasari describes him as "an admirable citizen, a man of culture... a friend of talented men, open and courteous with everyone. He always lived honourably and like the gentleman he was."
Connections
Alberti, having taken holy orders, remained unmarried all his life.
