Leon Battista Alberti a Universal Man - Architect

Leon Battista Alberti is considered to be one of the great Renaissance’s “universal man.” As a writer, architect, humanist philosopher, and artist, Alberti gave human kind of his time and to those generations to come, a vast source of knowledge and inspiration. Because of his endeavors and many successes, Alberti is to be considered a connoisseur of many disciplines, one who challenge the idiosyncrasy of the time and the people.

Alberti’s writings encapsulated many of his thoughts and views of society, culture, relationships; the workings of artist, architects, and theories, all which he developed a great appreciation at a young age. Alberti wrote his first book at age twenty on Italian grammar. The emphasis of his book was cryptography, and the uses given by the clerical populace and the aristocracy of the time. He shows that communication between the two realms of societies was dense on lies and agglomerations of miscommunications all that showed little appreciation for each other. Alberti also wrote treatises that included writings such as Della Pittura, De Sculptura, De re Aedificatoria. These treatises were the fundamental handbooks for artist, sculpture, and architects; setting the standards of education of the time and initiating the principles of these disciplines.

In architecture, Alberti had reverence for Roman architecture, and was always inspired by Vitruvius’ work. Because of his family quandaries, Alberti move to Florence in 1377 for political asylum, where his youth was one of exile It was here where Alberti discovered architecture, and the craftsmanship that took to follow the incumbent rules of classical architecture. Studding the writing of Vitruvius, which were the only extant architecture theory writings, Alberti was able to create buildings and facades such as the Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini and the Church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. Further Alberti was able to perfect his architecture and leave a legendary liturgical...