Leon Battista Alberti

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Statue of Leon Battista Alberti in the courtyard of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence
Engraving 1765

Leon Battista Alberti (born February 14, 1404 in Genoa , † April 25, 1472 in Rome ) was an Italian humanist , writer, mathematician, art and architecture theorist, and architect and medalist of the early Renaissance .

Alberti is one of the most astonishing and contradicting figures of the Italian Renaissance. Jacob Burckhardt sees in his "culture of the Renaissance" an embodiment of the uomo universale . Gifted with an unusually large number of talents, he emerged as the author of various specialist books, art theoretical treatises, mathematical treatises as well as books on social topics such as “Della famiglia” or large-scale satires such as “Momus”. In addition, he mastered all seven " artes liberales ". But he was unique in his time as a theoretician of painting, sculpture and architecture.

As a cleric and long-time employee of the papal chancellery, he also developed through his theoretical and practical study of Roman antiquity and through his access to the leading humanist circles of the 15th century to the greatest expert of his time in ancient architecture.

In his extensive work Über die Familie , he writes about the economy of the family household, marriage, raising children and friendship. His method of encrypting texts was not improved for several centuries, and his organ playing in Florence Cathedral was widely praised. In the art of painting alone, as Giorgio Vasari criticizes, he should not have been a master.

Life

Autograph Albertis ( Descriptio urbis Romae )

Battista Alberti was born in Genoa as the second illegitimate son of Lorenzo di Benedetto Alberti and Bianca di Carlo Fieschi. His father was the head of the important Florentine merchant family, the Alberti, who were banned from Florence as the losers in the power struggles of that time. From 1415 Battista attended the school of the humanist Gasparino Barzizza in Padua and then began studying canon law in Bologna. Due to financial difficulties after his father's death, he moved to Padua to study physics and mathematics. In 1428 he finished his studies with a doctorate in canon law, in the same year the banishment of the Alberti was lifted by the Pope. There is no definite information about his whereabouts or activities for the next four years, but it may be his first visit to his hometown of Florence. In 1432 he became secretary of Blasius Molin, the Patriarch of Grado, and also received the post of Abbreviator at the papal curia in Rome. The task of an Abbreviator was to draft documents that were needed for the papal business. During this time Alberti also wrote his first major literary work in Italian, the three books "Della famiglia". Topics were the relationship between fathers and sons, the family and housekeeping.

In 1434 he accompanied Pope Eugene IV into exile in Florence. He established or renewed his friendship with the Florentine artists Brunelleschi , Donatello , Ghiberti and others and soon afterwards wrote his famous art-theoretical treatises “De statua” and “De pictura”. During this time he also painted himself and took his middle name Leo or Leone. In 1438 he took part in the Council of Ferrara as a member of the papal delegation . In Ferrara he met Leonello d'Este and tried to get a job as a courtier. He also advised him on artistic matters. In 1443 he returned to Rome with Pope Eugene IV and began his studies of the architectural remains of antiquity. During this time he wrote a map of Rome, "Descriptio urbis Romae". In 1447 he received the order from Cardinal Prospero Colonna to salvage two Roman ships from the bottom of Lake Nemi , but the attempt was unsuccessful.

In 1447, Tommaso Parentucelli, a leading humanist, ascended the papal throne as Nicholas V. In addition to building the Vatican library, Nikolaus immediately began extensive construction work. However, there is no evidence that Alberti participated in the papal measures for the beautification and renewal of Rome, although in 1452 he presented his now largely completed work on building "De re aedificatoria" to the Pope. On the other hand, his design for the new facade of San Francesco in Rimini , the so-called “Tempio Malatesta”, is documented at this time (from around 1452) . Between 1455 and 1458 he made designs for the facade of Santa Maria Novella in Florence and for the Palazzo Rucellai , both on behalf of the merchant Giovanni Rucellai. In 1459 he stayed in Mantua accompanied by Pope Pius II and made the acquaintance of Margrave Luigi Gonzaga . In 1460 he commissioned him to design the church of San Sebastiano , which remained a torso during his lifetime and was later rebuilt many times. In 1470 he was entrusted with the planning of the church of Sant'Andrea , the laying of the foundation stone on June 12, 1472, he no longer witnessed. Alberti died on April 25, 1472 in Rome, in his last years a sought-after interlocutor for the rulers and princes of Northern Italy, highly respected by the young humanists of the Platonic Academy in Florence and widely valued and in demand as a mathematician, engineer and expert in architecture.

Art theoretical writings

In his art theoretical writings Alberti seeks observed by him to change usual artistic practice in his time, namely the ignorance ( ignorantia ) to explain the artist to eliminate and reason and knowledge to the necessary basics of art. His merit also lies in giving the discourse on art a language and a rational and literary basis.

De pictura (On the art of painting) 1435/1436

The aim of the treatise is neither a history of painting nor manual instructions in the manner of Cennino Cennini , rather painting is to be placed on a scientific basis. The first book is about the geometry of Euclid , optics and their application in perspective painting. For Alberti, the body, defined in antiquity by divisibility according to length, width and depth, is an object that is hidden under visible surfaces, or that which is covered by the surface where our vision reaches a limit. Logically, he has to deal with the problem of vision. The mobility of vision is difficult to reconcile with the rigid visual pyramid , the optical model for the visual process that was common in its time. This leads him to redefine the image as one of the possible cutting planes through the visual pyramid and its projection, which he calls windows . With his remarks he describes the theoretical basis of perspective representation. Practical aids for the painter are the wire mesh or velum and the peep box , the camera ottica . In the transfer of the three-dimensionality of the world into the two-dimensionality of the picture plane, he saw a demonstration of the power of the human spirit. A precise mathematical description of perspective representation was only provided by Piero della Francesca in his book De Prospettiva Pigendi around 1470.

The second and third books are about the manual and intellectual abilities of the painter. With ingenium Alberti refers to the creative and intellectual abilities of the invention ( inventio ), the judgment and the selection assets ( iudicium ) and the appropriateness in relation to the selected object ( aptum ): These terms are from ancient rhetoric borrowed and are here as art-theoretical terms introduced. The work to be carried out, which includes the pictorial representation of acting and suffering persons, the historia , must be prepared through careful studies. The term historia is more general with him, only later was the meaning limited to history painting.

The primary goal of the art of painting is the effect of the painting on the viewer. The vivid display of emotions to the viewer certain emotions stimulate or trigger, moods, feelings sensual and spiritual insights. Nature is an inexhaustible source and role model for the artist. It is a matter of looking at nature and paying careful attention to how nature, the wonderful creator of things, has put the surfaces together on the most beautiful limbs. To study nature, however, virtues ( virtus ) such as diligence, skill as well as willpower and perseverance of the artist must necessarily come in order to create a perfect work.

De statua (The statue), around 1435

De statua is not - as its title suggests - a “treatise on sculpture or sculpture, but a proposal to solve some problems such as measuring the lengths and diameters of bodies and statues, proportionally enlarging or reducing a model and the ideal proportions of the human body. "Schlosser particularly emphasizes the" famous and important systematic of sculpture ", that is Alberti's distinction in the three areas: sculptors ( fictores ) who build figures or add material from clay or clay, sculptors ( sculptores ), removing material to create the figure, and finally e.g. B. Gold- or silversmiths ( argentarii ), who produce hollow shapes from forged metal. Alberti developed three instruments for measuring purposes: the Hexempeda , a proportional measuring stick , the Normae for determining diameters, and the Finitorium , a complicated device with a round, graduated disk plus a movable pointer that was placed on the head of the figure to be measured was attached. With this device he could determine the coordinates of every point in space or on the figure and record them in a table. The table of proportions of the human body at the end of “De statua” (Tabulae dimensionum hominis) takes into account the length and width of the body and its parts as well as its third dimension.

De re aedificatoria (About the building industry) 1443–1452

The prologue of De re aedificatoria in the Olomouc manuscript written around 1485/1490, Státní Archive, Domské i Kapitolní Knihovna, Cod. Lat. CO 330
De re aedificatoria , edition by Jakob Cammerlander, Strasbourg 1541

Alberti's large-scale textbook on building was probably written in Rome between 1443 and 1452, possibly at the suggestion of the Prince of Ferrara, Leonello d'Este . Written in classical Latin, it was not aimed at architects, but primarily at educated builders and the academic world of humanists. The focus of the work is the architecture of Roman antiquity, which Alberti saw as a model and inspiration for his present. His archaeological-monument preservation approach, which wanted to reconstruct a lost epoch and save it from complete decay, must be distinguished from his idealistic approach, which wanted to fill this self-contained period of Roman antiquity with new life and make it fruitful for its present.

Alberti is initially based strongly on the only work on architecture that has survived from antiquity, Vitruvius's De architectura libri decem from around 30-20 BC. He not only takes the number of books (ten), but also parts of the material from the Areas of building materials science, building construction, building typology and from the whole complex of temple shapes and column arrangements. In addition, he uses the famous Vitruvian categories firmitas (firmness), utilitas (usefulness) and venustas (beauty) as a basis for the broad structure of his treatise (more precisely: Books II-IX) . Logically, Books II and III deal with the topics of building materials science ( De materia and construction ( De opere ), Books IV and V the typological descriptions of both public facilities ( De universorum opere ) and the individual sacred, public and private buildings ( De singulorum opere ), while books VI-IX deal with jewelry in general ( De ornamento ) as well as the decoration of temples and basilicas, other public buildings and private houses. Book I deals with planning in general ( De lineamentis ), Book X on the repair of buildings ( Qui operum instauratio inscribitur ).

However, while Alberti remained largely dependent on Vitruvius and other authors in questions of ancient building practice, in the field of architectural theory he broke away almost completely from his ancient predecessor. For example, he changes the required qualification of the architect, which at Vitruvius was made up of practical craftsmanship ( fabrica ) and theoretical knowledge ( ratiocinatio ), in favor of the pure planner who uses a site manager for the work on site. He also completely replaces the six central Vitruvian basic concepts ordinatio , dispositio , eurythmia , symmetria , decor and distributio with his own six categories regio , area , partitio , paries , tectum , apertio (area, property, division, wall, roof and opening). Above all, however, he is breaking new ground in the field of aesthetic theory by going far beyond Vitruvius' initial thesis of “taking away” and “adding”, which means that a building “seems to be properly designed and nothing is missed when you look at it” progresses towards a comprehensive definition of beauty: “Beauty is a kind of consensus and conspiracy of the associated parts with regard to a certain number ( numerus ), relation ( finitio ) and arrangement ( collocatio ), like the Harmony ( concinnitas ), the perfect and original law of nature, demands. "

What is particularly striking about Alberti's architectural theory is its astonishing modernity. Whether it is about the new role of the architect as a pure planner with his own, no longer handcrafted training course or about the new image of the city with its equality of public space and buildings; Whether it is the original skeletal construction theory and the concept of bones and skin, skeleton and shell or the relativization of the concept of beauty and the inclusion of subjective perception in the aesthetic discussion - the concepts always point far into the future, at least three hundred years to beyond Absolutism into the Age of Enlightenment , in the broadest case into the 19th and 20th centuries. With this, “De re aedificatoria” is not only the first treatise of modern times on the building industry, but also remains the most important text on architectural theory for a long time.

buildings

San Francesco in Rimini, called Tempio Malatestiano (1452)

Of Sigismondo Malatesta Alberti was commissioned an external transformation of San Francesco in Rimini  - and since the 19th century cathedral of the city - to an appropriate burial site for him and his third wife, Isotta degli Atti . San Francesco was the burial place of the Malatesta since 1312 . In 1452 Alberti designed a new facade cladding made of marble for the church, which encloses the building on three sides. The front facade shows a free interpretation of the Roman triumphal arch motif, probably inspired by the nearby Arch of Augustus in Rimini. The sides were designed as arcades, the arched openings of which contained sarcophagi. Alberti only provided plans and a model for the construction and issued written instructions from Rome. The project was carried out by the builders Matteo de'Pasti and Agostino di Duccio. The facade remained unfinished, its planned appearance can only be identified in a sketch by a medal that was minted to mark the start of construction.

Buildings in Florence

Facade of the Palazzo Rucellai

For the wealthy Florentine merchant Giovanni Rucellai, Alberti designed the facade of the buildings on Via della Vigna, most of which were owned by the family. The Rucellai, who had risen to the highest Florentine society through great wealth and marriage to a Medici , should be adequately represented. The urban complex includes the palace, the loggia and the piazza.

Palazzo Rucellai (around 1455/1462)

A total of eight smaller buildings were combined to form a representative palace with initially five axes. According to Vasari, Alberti designed the facade (around 1455) and for the first time in recent architectural history used the division of the facade of the Roman theater by means of stacked column arrangements. The facade made of fine rustica is structured by flat pilasters and strips of entablature, the capitals of the pilasters are based on the Doric order on the first floor, the Ionic order on the first floor, and the Corinthian order on the second floor. The construction manager was perhaps Bernardo Rossellino , who is also believed to be the architect of the interior design. After 1462 the building was expanded to seven axes.

Sepolcro Rucellai in San Pancrazio (1467)

The only source that the design was Alberti is the statement by Vasari . The planning for the building fell in the years 1457-1459, it was completed in 1467. The tomb , oriented towards the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, is clad with marble fields and is structured by Corinthian pilasters. Two pilasters each surround three squares of white marble, each with a circular ornament. In addition to varied star shapes, these tondi contain the emblems of the Medici and the Rucellai.

Santa Maria Novella in Florence (1470)
Santa Maria Novella, facade completed by Alberti, 1470

The Gothic church of the Dominicans , begun in 1278, was consecrated in 1420. The facade with geometric incrustations of green and white marble remained unfinished until the middle of the 15th century. According to Vasari, Alberti provided Rucellai with a design to complete the facade (1457/58). Giovanni Bettino was the site manager. The construction was completed in 1470.

In his design Alberti had to take into account the structure of the ground floor, the large round window on the first floor of the basilica and the pent roofs of the aisles. While respecting the existing parts, he further developed the old concept in his own way. The new sections were laid out more regularly and generously, and the geometric lines were more clearly worked out. Three-quarter columns framing the portal and the building corners as well as colossal pilasters on the sides of the facade give the ground floor a closed shape. In addition, the ground floor is summarized by a high parapet above the entablature. The attachment on the upper floor, divided by flat pilasters, surrounds the oculus and is crowned by a classic temple gable. The solution found for Santa Maria Novella of covering the pent roofs of the side aisles with two volutes was subsequently imitated by many architects, especially in the Baroque era .

Buildings in Mantua

Of particular importance for the history of architecture are the churches of San Sebastiano and Sant 'Andrea, which were built for Ludovico Gonzaga in Mantua from 1460, and which revolutionized church construction. They are the only buildings that Alberti designed completely. Neither of them were completed during his lifetime, and Sant'Andrea only started shortly after his death. In both buildings Alberti is free and creative with the ancient specifications.

San Sebastiano (from 1460)
San Sebastiano, Mantua

San Sebastiano is a central building on the plan of a Greek cross. The construction, which began in 1460, has an unusually high base (possibly due to foundation and moisture problems), the facade is structured by pilasters and finished with a temple gable. The building was subsequently changed several times, so that Alberti's original concept can no longer be determined precisely.

Sant 'Andrea (from 1472)

In Sant 'Andrea, begun in 1472, Alberti replaced the side aisles of the normal basilica floor plan with a series of chapels, a renewal with great consequences for church construction in the late Renaissance and Baroque periods. In the facade he combined the ancient temple front with a triumphal arch motif with flat pilasters instead of the usual columns or half-columns.

Alberti apparently also oriented himself on a biblical text from the first book of kings (6,7), in which the Solomonic temple construction is described, whose proportions in length, width and height he takes up. The temple measured 60 by 20 by 30 cubits , Sant 'Andrea 120 by 40 by 60 bracci (a braccio , about 47 cm). The final completion of Sant 'Andrea took around 300 years, with major changes in design and concept. At Alberti the church was still limited to the main nave and the side chapels. Later, a crossing crowned with a dome, a choir and two conches were added.

Writings and literary works

Opere volgari , 1843
  • Philodoxius , 1424. Comedy
  • De religione , between 1429 and 1432.
  • Ephebia , between 1429 and 1432.
  • Deifira, a book on love and how to escape it , 1428.
  • De commodis litterarum atque incommodis , around 1430 to 1432.
  • Vita Sancti Potiti , 1433.
  • Intercenales , 1430-1443. Table talks.
  • I Libri della famiglia , 1433-1441. First printed in 1843. Turin 1969.
  • De pictura , 1435, dedicated to Filippo Brunelleschi ; Della pittura , 1436 ( full text , lat.)
  • De statua , 1435/1436.
  • Apologi , 1437. About his philosophy of life
  • De iure , 1437.
  • Pontiff , 1437.
  • Vita , 1438. Autobiography, published anonymously and without a title.
  • Villa , 1438. About agriculture.
  • Theogenius , 1440.
  • De equo animante , 1441. Treatise on keeping horses ( full text , lat.)
  • Canis , 1441/1442, praising his dog.
  • Musca , 1441. About the fly.
  • Profugiorum from aerumna , 1441/1442.
  • Certame Coronario , printed in 1441. Poetry competition.
  • Grammatica della lingua toscana , 1441–1447.
  • Descriptio urbis Romae . Earliest surviving city survey of Rome in modern times.
  • Navis , 1447.
  • De motibus poneris , 1448.
  • Ludi rerum Mathematicarum , before 1452.
  • De re aedificatoria , Rome 1452. Architectural theoretical treatise , first published in 1485.
  • Momus o del principe , around 1440. Satire.
  • De porcaria coniuratione , 1453.
  • Trivia senatoria , 1460.
  • De Componendis Cifris , 1466/1467. Instructions for encrypting texts ( full text (PDF) lat., Pdf).
  • De Iciarchia , 1468.

Text output

  • Edizione nazionale delle opere di Leon Battista Alberti. Polistampa, Firenze (critical complete edition)
    • Department 1: Biographica
    • Department 7: Opuscoli e frammenti
  • Leon Battista Alberti: Momvs / Momus. Edited by Paolo d'Alessandro, Francesco Furlan. Les Belles Lettres, Paris 2019, ISBN 978-2-251-44915-9 (critical edition with French translation by Claude Laurens as well as bibliography and commentary)

Modern translations

  • Leon Battista Alberti: The statue. The art of painting. Basics of painting. Edited, introduced, translated and commented by Oskar Bätschmann . Darmstadt 2000.
  • Leon Battista Alberti: Ten books on architecture / De re aedificatoria. (Original edition: Florence 1485), translated into German, introduced and provided with notes and drawings by Max Theuer . 2nd Edition. Darmstadt 2005 (unchanged reprographic reprint of the 1st edition from 1912).
  • Marco Collareta (Ed.): Leon Battista Alberti: De statua. Sillabe, Livorno 1999, ISBN 88-86392-47-8 (Latin text and Italian translation)
  • Martine Furno, Mario Carpo (ed.): Leon Battista Alberti: Descriptio Urbis Romae. Droz, Genève 2000, ISBN 2-600-00396-7 (critical edition and French translation)
  • Cecil Grayson (Ed.): Leon Battista Alberti: On Painting and On Sculpture. Phaidon, London 1972, ISBN 0-7148-1552-7 (Latin text and English translation)
  • Cecil Grayson (Ed.): Leonis Baptistae Alberti de equo animante . In: Albertiana 2, 1999, pp. 191–235 (with French translation by Jean-Yves Boriaud)
  • Christine Tauber, Robert Cramer (Ed.): Leon Battista Alberti: Vita . Stroemfeld, Frankfurt a. M. 2004 (Latin text and German translation)
  • Virginia Brown, Sarah Knight (Eds.): Leon Battista Alberti: Momus. Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Massachusetts) 2003, ISBN 0-674-00754-9 (Latin text and English translation)

literature

  • Günther Fischer : Leon Battista Alberti. His life and his architectural theory. WBG - Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2012, ISBN 978-3-534-25603-7 .
  • Heiner Mühlmann : Aesthetic theory of the Renaissance - Leon Battista Alberti (= Habelt's dissertation prints. Art history series. 6). Habelt, Bonn 1981, ISBN 3-7749-1826-0 (At the same time: Munich, Universität, Dissertation, 1968; 2nd, revised edition. Dolega, Bochum 2005, ISBN 3-937376-01-1 ).
  • Barry Katz: Leon Battista Alberti and the humanist theory of arts. University Press of America, Washington DC 1978, ISBN 0-8191-0279-2 .
  • Franco Borsi: Leon Battista Alberti. The complete work. Belser, Stuttgart a. a. 1982, ISBN 3-7630-1759-3 .
  • Joseph Rykwert, Anne Engel (Ed.): Leon Battista Alberti. Electa, Milan 1994, ISBN 88-435-4968-5 (exhibition catalog, Mantua, Centro Internazionale d'Arte e di Cultura di Palazzo Te, September 10 - December 11, 1994).
  • Boris von Brauchitsch : Brunelleschi's egg. The short but true story of the invention of Leon Battista Alberti. Rohr, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-926602-17-1 .
  • Hartmut Wulfram : Literary Vitruvius reception in Leon Battista Alberti's “De re aedificatoria” (= contributions to antiquity . 155). Saur, Munich a. a. 2001, ISBN 3-598-77704-3 (also: Göttingen, Universität, Dissertation, 2000/2001).
  • Anthony Grafton : Leon Battista Alberti. Renaissance builder. Berlin-Verlag, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-8270-0169-2 .
  • Donata Mazzini, Simone Martini: Villa Medici, Fiesole. Leon Battista Alberti and the prototype of the Renaissance Villa. = Villa Medici a Fiesole. Leon Battista Alberti e il prototipo di villa rinascimentale. Centro Di, Florence 2004, ISBN 88-7038-411-X (Italian and English).
  • Michel Paoli : Léon Battista Alberti, 1404–1472. Les Éditions de l'Imprimeur, Paris 2004, ISBN 2-910735-88-5 .
  • Francesco Paolo Fiore (Ed.): La Roma di Leon Battista Alberti. Umanistici, architetti e artisti alla scoperta dell'antico nella città del Quattrocento. Skira, Milan 2005. ISBN 88-7624-394-1 (exhibition catalog, Rome, Musei Capitolini, 24 giugno - 16 ottobre 2005).
  • Matthias Schöndube: Leon Battista Alberti, "Della tranquillità dell'animo". An interpretation based on the ancient sources (= contributions to antiquity. 292). de Gruyter, Berlin a. a. 2011, ISBN 978-3-11-026062-5 (also: Cologne, University, dissertation, 2010/2011).
  • Giorgio Vasari: The life of Brunelleschi and Alberti. Newly translated into German by Victoria Lorini. Edited, commented on and introduced by Matteo Burioni. Wagenbach, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-8031-5056-1 .
  • Roberto Cardini (ed.): Leon Battista Alberti - La biblioteca di un umanista (= Cataloghi e Mostre. 6). Mandragora, Florence 2005, ISBN 88-7461-084-X (exhibition catalog, Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, 8 ottobre 2005 - 7 gennaio 2006).
  • Eugenio Garin : Leon Battista Alberti (= Variazioni. 4). Edizioni della Normale, Pisa 2013, ISBN 978-88-7642-467-0 .
  • Silvia Crupano: "Il principe" di Leon Battista Alberti. Pensiero civile e filosofia della storia (= Socrates. 11). Il Melangolo, Genoa 2013, ISBN 978-88-7018-387-0 .
  • Michel Paoli (Ed.): Les "Livres de la famille" d'Alberti. Sources, sens et influence (= Colloques, Congrès et Conférences sur la Renaissance Européenne. 77). Classiques Garnier, Paris 2013, ISBN 978-2-8124-0911-0 (collection of articles).
  • Kurt Walter Forster and Hubert Locher (ed.): Theory of Practice. Leon Battista Alberti as a humanist and theoretician of the visual arts . Berlin 1999.
  • Veronica Biermann: The Architectural Treatise. Leon Battista Alberti: De re aedificatoria 1452. In: Dietrich Erben (Hg.): The book as a draft. Text genres in the history of architectural theory. A manual , Paderborn: Fink 2019, ISBN 978-3-7705-6334-0 , pp. 32-55.
  • Magda Saura: Building Codes in the Architectural Treatise “De re Aedifictoria”. In: Karl-Eugen Kurrer , Werner Lorenz , Volker Wetzk (eds.): Proceedings of the Third International Congress on Construction History. Neunplus, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-936033-31-1 , pp. 1309-1324 (PDF).

Web links

Wikisource: Autore: Leon_Battista_Alberti  - Sources and full texts (Italian)
Wikisource: Leon Battista Alberti  - Sources and full texts (Latin)
Commons : Leon Battista Alberti  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Leon Battista Alberti  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Alberti, Leo Baptist. In: Leonard Forrer : Biographical Dictionary of Medallists. Volume 1: (A-D). Spink & Son, London 1904, p. 36 .
  2. ^ Jacob Burckhardt : The culture of the Renaissance in Italy. An attempt (= Collected Works. Volume 3). Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1962, p. 94 ff.
  3. ^ Bätschmann: Introduction to: Leon Battista Alberti: The still picture. 2000, pp. 13-140, here pp. 27-28.
  4. ↑ Julius von Schlosser : An artist problem of the Renaissance: LB Alberti (= Academy of Sciences in Vienna. Philosophical-historical class. Meeting reports. 210, 2, ISSN  1012-487X ). Hölder-Pichler-Tempsky, Vienna a. a. 1929, p. 13.
  5. ^ Vitruvii De architectura libri decem. = Ten books on architecture. Translated and annotated by Curt Fensterbusch . 5th edition. Primus, Darmstadt 1996, ISBN 3-89678-005-0 , p. 271.
  6. ^ Fischer: Leon Battista Alberti. 2012, p. 180.
  7. ^ Images by San Francesco Tempio Malatestiano
  8. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: images of Sant 'Andrea@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.greatbuildings.com
  9. ↑ See brief table of contents at the Kunsthistorisches Institut Florenz .
personal data
SURNAME Alberti, Leon Battista
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian humanist, writer, mathematician, architect
DATE OF BIRTH February 14, 1404
PLACE OF BIRTH Genoa
DATE OF DEATH April 25, 1472
Place of death Rome