LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI

ARCHITECT
1404-1472



Santa Maria Nevella



INTRODUCTION


Leon Battista Alberti was known as the father of modern architecture.


BACKGROUND


Alberti was born in the city of Greece in 1404 and was sent to the finest schools in Italy. He studied many different subjects like mathematics, architecture, philosophy, law, art and music. Alberti received his humanistic training at the University of Padua and studied law at Bologna.

In 1428 he became an aid to the papal legates of Burgundy and Germany. He studied law cases for the pope for seven years and never married because around the year 1428-1429 he joined the priesthood.

Alberti visited Germany, Austria, and Yugoslavia. There he studied architecture and, for the most part, he focused on the Gothic style.


ACCOMPLISHMENTS


Alberti's first structure was commissioned by a close and personal friend, Sigismondo Malatesta. The Malatesta temple is found in Rimine but was never completed. Alberti also designed the church Sant'Andrea, and also redesigned the medieval church of San Francesco in Rimine. He redesigned the Santa Maria Nevella.

The Santa Maria Nevella was one of the most elaborate, brilliant pieces of that time period.

Alberti designed the Palazzo Rucellai perfectly proportioned on all of its three floors, with a combination of Doric, Ionic and Corinthian pillars.

Alberti wrote in both Latin and Italian. He wrote many love poems, dialogues, Latin comedy, fables, and treatises on sculpture, agriculture, law, etc. He also wrote a ten book treatise on the proper way to situate a city: the proper climate, how the water should flow, work sites, materials, type of buildings and their situation in the town.


IMPACT


Alberti was an ideal Renaissance man. He contributed to the development of architectural styles in the Renaissance. In many people's eyes he is the greatest architect ever.





San Francesco Rhimini

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Copplestone,T., ed. World Architecture. London, Hamlyn, 1972, pp. 237-239.

2. Dick, Stevens J. "Leon Battista Alberti." Grolier Electronic Publishing, Inc., 1995.

3. [http://www.shu.edu/academic/arts_sci/Undergraduate/modlang/sites/italian/ artists/life.html]. "Life." 1996.

This page was prepared by Cody and Kyle, Grade 8, Riverdale Junior Secondary School.