|  Leon
Battista Alberti was known as the Father
of Modern Architecture. As an Italian
humanist, architect and principal initiator
of Renaissance art theory, Alberti was
a multi-faceted personality with a kaleidoscope
of talent and knowledge, being known as
the prototype of the Renaissance ‘universal
man’. Combining in perfect proportions
and details, Alberti designed the Palazzo
Rucellai on all three floors with the
architecture of Doric, Ionic and Corinthian
pillars. Versatile in both the Latin and
Italian languages, Alberti scripted and
wrote many love poems, fables, Latin comedy
and dialogues. Alberti with an innate
sense of technicalities wrote treatises
on sculpture, agriculture, law and a host
of technical subjects. He also wrote a
ten book treatise on the detailed technical
nature of how a city should be structured.
Alberti went into minute details of how
the water should be properly channeled,
how work sites should be constructed,
the types of materials to be used and
the different kinds of buildings that
should be positioned in suitable and ideal
locations. As a man with the spirit of
the Renaissance embedded in his work and
ideals, Leon Battista Alberti as one of
the greatest architects, contributed unique
ideas and exceptional knowledge to the
development of architectural styles to
the Renaissance period.
On Painting
Leon Battista Alberti
Leon Battista Alberti was the perfect
ideal man and artist of the Renaissance
period. Multi talented and versatile,
Alberti was an Italian architect, art
theorist, writer, linguist, cryptographer,
musician, architect, and general Renaissance
polymath. His theoritic works underlined
a guide for future architects and artists
besides enhancing and promoting arts,
literature, philosophy, painting and sculpture.
His writing on painting and sculpture
(1436) were pioneering works revealing
treatment and technique giving it significance
and substance.
The Man
Leon Battista Alberti was a multi-faceted
personality whose achievements reflected
almost every walk of life. He was one
of the sons of a Florentine merchant,
Lorenzo Alberti and a Bolognese mother,
Bianca Fieschi. Alberti was born in Genoa
on 18th February in the year 1404, but
the family had been exiled by the republican
government. Alberti was introduced to
architecture when the family was allowed
back in Florence in 1428.
Alberti’s was fascinated with the
study of architecture and art. Though
he never went through a formal architectural
education, his ideas in this field were
self-motivated with research and an all-consuming
interest. Alberti studied at Padua receiving
the best education and then went on to
study law at the University of Bologna.
He went on a tour of Europe when he was
in his mid-twenties but was beset by an
illness which induced a partial loss of
memory. When he recovered, he channeled
his talents into the fields of art and
science, being supported by his uncles
after the death of his father.
The Maestro
As the ‘universal man’, Alberti
was called the ‘prophet’ of
the new grand style in art, being influenced
by Leonardo Da Vinci, the author of the
Renaissance. Alberti’s talents have
revealed him as a humanist, antiquarian,
mathematician and an art theorist. Alberti
wrote ‘On the Advantages and Disadvantages
of Letters’ which he dedicated to
Carlo, his brother, who was a scholar.
Receiving a doctorate in Canon law, Alberti
traveled to Rome during the 1430s, where
he drafted papal briefs at the Papal curia.
Mastering the Latin and Italian languages,
Alberti rewrote the traditional lives
of martyrs and saints in Latin. On taking
the Holy Order, Alberti held the Priorate
of San Martino a Gangalandi at Lastra
a Signa after which he was appointed the
rector of the parish of San Lorenzo in
Mugello. Alberti was appointed as the
papal inspector of monuments from 1447
to 1455, and was involved in major building
projects in Rome. Alberti wrote a Latin
comedy which was adapted into an antique
Roman play ‘Philodoxeos’.
He also loved the classics and was a prolific
reader. His other early works were ‘Amator’
(1429), ‘Ecatonfilea’ (1429),
and ‘Deiphira’ (1429), which
showcased love, virtues, and failed relationships.
The Masterpiece
When Pope Eugenius IV was driven away
from the Holy City, Alberti accompanied
him. Alberti was ordained as the Canon
of the Florentine Cathedral. Alberti admired
the dome which was the largest in the
world, designed by Filippo Brunelleschi.
As a comprehensive interpretation of art,
science and technology and the spiritual
symbol of the Florentine Rinascita, the
dome was quoted by Alberti as a piece
of architecture which would be huge enough
to cover all the Tuscan people with its
shadow. Alberti was commissioned to re-structure
the Gothic church of Saint Francesco,
Rimini, which was known as the Tempio
Malatestiano as a memorial to the warlord
Sigismondo Malatesta and his court. Alberti
coordinated with his assistants and completed
the dominating classical triumphal arch
but the façade was left incomplete.
But the only buildings designed by Alberti
were, S. Sebastino (1460) and S. Andrea
(1470) whose triumphal arches were declared
to be more magnificent than that of the
Tempio Malatestiano. His greatest achievement
is the facade of Santa Maria Novella (1458-71)
which displays a clear statement of his
new principles. Alberti’s wrote
‘De pictura’ (1435) which
was the first version of ‘On Painting’
in Latin. He translated the same into
Italian called ‘Della pittura’
(1436), which was dedicated to Filippo
Brunelleschi who was famous for his formulation
of the laws of linear perspective, Alberti
de-coded the basic geometry into a simpler
formulation which could easily be understood
mathematically which was imperative to
the design and creation of pictorial space
as the basis of Renaissance art.
The Magnificence
As an artist, Alberti derived his concepts
from nature and declared that the final
aim of the artist is not only to imitate
nature but to adhere to its form and harmonize
all the facets into a complete aesthetic
rendition. Alberti’s also wrote
a treatise ‘I Libri della famiglia’
in Tuscan, where he stressed on the importance
of education, marriage, household management
and money. Alberti wrote, ‘Momus’
between 1443 and 1450, as a misogynist
comedy on the Olympian gods. As one of
Alberti’s passion for architecture
was disclosed in his book, De re aedificatoria
(1452), or the Ten Books on architecture
which was a guide book based on ‘De
architecture’ by the Roman Architect
and engineer Vitruvius as the first architectural
treatise on architecture of the Renaissance.
With dreams of re-building Rome, Alberti
dedicated the book to Pope Nicholas V,
but managed to spread only his theories
and ideals to Italy about the Florentine
Renaissance. Alberti wrote a treatise
on cryptography, ‘De componendis
cifris’ and the first Italian grammar.
He also wrote a small book on geography
in Latin, ‘Descriptio urbis Romae’
(The panorama of the city of Rome). He
also completed ‘De ichiarchia’
(On Ruling the Household) just before
he died.
The Magic
Alberti was an innate artist and craftsman
with an extraordinary equation with the
royal families. He was a celebrated guest
at the Este court in Ferrara and in Urbino
with the soldier-prince, Federigo da Montfeltro
who was a patron of the arts. Alberti
dedicated his treatise on architecture
to him. Alberti designed many buildings
for the Rucellai family in Florence including
the facade of the palazzo Rucellai, the
façade of S. Maria Novella, the
marble-clad shrine of the Holy Sepulchre,
and the Capella Rucellai. Alberti loved
austere and puritan churches of the early
centuries preferring the interiors in
white. He was also commissioned by the
Marquis of Ludovico Gonzaga to design
the tribune of SS Annunziata. He gave
architecture a language endowing it with
a classical culture. Despite many criticisms
of his work and his theories, Alberti
was a humane person. He loved animals
and had a pet mongrel for which he wrote
a panegyric, ‘Canis’ (1441-1442).
Johann Gutenberg, in 1457, discovered
a very ingenious method of printing books.
Alberti invented a way of tracing natural
perspectives with the effect of diminution
of figures and another method where he
could reproduce small objects on a large
scale which enhanced the facets of art.
The Mystery
Leon Battista Alberti was an important
figure during the Renaissance. He was
an elaborator of mathematical perspective
and theoretician of art being a craftsman
and an intellectual. He died on April
25th, 1472, in Rome leaving a legacy of
books which revealed a scientific basis
to works of art and equated it to works
of literature and philosophy. His intellect
was of high order which placed him above
superior men of learning. Alberti was
the author of ‘Hypnerotomachia Poliphili,
a fascinating fantasy with typographic
qualities and illustrations which is legendary
and memorable. His musical abilities were
phenomenal being a reputed organist. Alberti
also designed the restoration of the papal
palace and the restoration of the Roman
aqueduct of acqua Vergine. In his book
on architecture, Alberti explained new
methods of fortification. Alberti was
accomplished in cryptography and invented
both the poly alphabetic ciphers and machine-assisted
encryption using his cipher disk as a
notable advancement in cryptography before
the time of Julius Caesar. David Kahn,
the cryptography historian, has given
him the title of the “Father of
Cryptography”, besides attributing
Alberti as an inventor of, “The
earliest Western exposition of cryptanalysis,
the invention of polyalphabetic substitution,
and the invention of enciphered code”.
Leon Battista Alberti was more than a
prodigy who was capable of standing with
his feet together and springing over a
man’s head. Florence called him
a, ‘monstrously perfect man’,
who was handsome and strong. Alberti was
adept at all bodily exercises. He could
throw a coin so far as to ring against
the vault. His favorite amusements were
to tame wild horses and climb mountains.
Accomplished with a mystic talent, Alberti
could sing beautifully besides performing
in a versatile manner on the organ. He
was an entrancing conversationalist, an
eloquent orator, alert with sober intelligence,
refinement and courtesy. Leon Battista
Alberti is compared to Leonardo da Vinci
as a master with skills in mathematics,
mechanics, architecture, sculpture, painting
music, poetry, drama, philosophy, civil
and common law besides drawing maps and
as a cartographer adept at astronomy.
In summing up the life history of Alberti,
his quote describes his appreciation of
life, the celebration of all that is on
earth and within ourselves, "When
I investigate and when I discover that
the forces of the heavens and the planets
are within ourselves then truly I seem
to be living among the gods".
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