Leon Battista Alberti's Life (1404-1472) Career: 1440s to 1470s (21 juill. 1404 – 13 juill. 1472)

Description:

Born in Genoa as Alberti family was in exile from Florence due to power and political reasons.

The leading powers in Florence would exile the families from the opposing power.

Albertu was one of the most important humanist scholars of the 15th century.

He wrote a large number of works on a wide variety of subjects, including books on painting, sculpture and architecture.

In Florence in the late 1420s he met Donatello, Ghiberti, Masaccio, Lucca della Robbia and Brunelleschi.

In the 1430s he carefully studied the ruins of ancient Rome.

Unlike Brunelleschi (who was more of an engineer), Alberti was not really interested in HOW the Romans had constructed their buildings.

Instead he was more concerned with the aesthetic and philosophical ideals that underlay the design of Roman architecture.

Alberti took a more scholarly approach towards the rules, principles of Roman buildings early in his career.

In the 1440s, Alberti began to write a book on architecture.

His De re aedificatoria was closely based on Vitruvius's Ten Books on Architecture (c.30-15BC).
In the 1440s Alberti was asked to design buildings in Florence, Ferrara and Rimini.

He was also appointed (in 1447) the architectural adviser to the pope.

Alberti had a theory on architecture whilst Brunelleschi did not.


Alberti's Theory on Architecture:

Alberti wrote that the appearance of a building consisted of two elements: Beauty and Ornament.

He defined beauty as the "harmony and concord of all the parts achieved in such a manner that nothing can be added or taken away or altered except for the worse".

For Alberti this meant maintaining a uniform system of proportion throughout a building, which was closely related to the system of musical harmonies described by Pythagoras.

Ornament was described by Alberti as "a kind of additional brightness and improvement to Beauty.

Beauty is something lovely which is proper and innate and diffused throughout the whole, whilst Ornament is something added and fastened on, rather than prope and innate".

"The principal ornament in all architecture certainly lies in the Column".

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