Leon+Battista+Alberti

Leon Battista Alberti (1404 - 1472) was a Renaissance humanist influential in physics, mathematics, architecture and painting. Alberti was born in Genoa in 1404 to a wealthy merchant family. He went to boarding school in Padua and at the University of Bologna, earning a degree in canon law. His father passed away shortly after beginning university. This left Alberti destitute, lonely and sick from overwork (Gadol 4). Nevertheless, he believed, "nothing is to difficult for study and determination to overcome (Gadol 3)." He worked as secretary to the papal court, drafting papal briefs, recording the lives of martyrs and taking holy orders to the priesthood. During his first stay in Rome from 1432 to 1434 he wrote //On the Family// and constructed city maps. Alberti traveled to Florence where he befriended artists Brunelleschi and Donatello to whom he dedicates his book, //Della pittura// (1435). Alberti traveled with the papal court for seven years during which he wrote, //Theogenius// and //Profugiorum ab aerumna// which commented on the conflicts between fortune and virtue and the cruciality of reason in all circumstances. The works //Momus// and //Intercenales// were satires in which he criticizes human nature in political life (Borsi 15). He returned to Rome in 1443 whereupon architecture became his focus. He designed buildings including the Tempio Malatestiano. In 1452 he completed //De re aedificatoria ,// which established the art of building with rules and theory. He continued to fuse the //vita attiva// and //vita contemplativa// lifestyles until his death in 1472.

//**__Della Famiglia__**//**// Alberti wrote ardently about the moral philosophy of family and education in //** //Della Famiglia// ("On the Family"). He reflected on the Albertis and set standards for the functions of a family. Each member of a family had their own unique role:

"My job is to make just demands on my family, to teach them diligent and good work, and to give to each what is needed and proper for the task. Do you know how I go about my job to do it better? First, I think for a long, long while about what I could use and what is best, then I go about obtaining it, and endure hardship in order to have it, then I preserve it with care, and finally I teach my household to take care in keeping it for its proper use and then in using it." (Book III, 181)

"Nothing is more vital to the family, in my opinion, than to educate the youth to be well behaved and to have excellence character." (Book III)

//** Della pittura**// In another work, //Della pittura,// Alberti invented standards for humanist painters: Just as the humanist historians, poets, and rhetoricians valued //logos//, //pathos//, and //ethos//, Alberti created a framework for painters to focus on these fundamentals in their art. He outlined important characteristics of painting, creating a critical "art language" for artists to embrace (Borsi 11). Additionally, Alberti recorded a mathematic system explaining linear perspective, and emphasized the importance of //istoria//, or subject matter (Grafton 127). Alberti saw painting as the source of all visual arts:

"Who can doubt that painting is the master art or at least not a small ornament of things? [… ] All the smiths, sculptors, shops and guilds are governed by the rules and art of the painter. It is scarcely possible to find any superior art which is not concerned with painting, so that whatever beauty is found can be said to be born of painting." (Book II, 64)

Perhaps the largest impact of Alberti's work is in architecture. Alberti fused his knowledge of the classics with mathematics. The finished product was his extensive theoretical work, //De re aedificatoria,// that he completed in 1452.
 * //De re aedificatoria//**

Leon Battista Alberti embodied the "renaissance man” during the Quattrocento. He was "a penetrating observer of society, he could divine men's intentions toward him at a glance and enjoyed integrating knowledgeable  artisans about their skills. A dazzling amateur artist, he could paint or sculpt the likeness of a friend while dictating an essay" (Grafton 53). Vasari referred to him as a man “who can do all things if he will”. He personified Renaissance Humanism, which considered all men to have endless capacity for development when it came to learning. Throughout life, he made influential advancements in the areas of literature, architecture and education. Alberti "wrote in every literary genre and in both Italian and Latin; he practiced all the fine arts. He had a gift for cultivating friendships with men of radically different kinds, from pious monks to humanist pornographers (Grafton 10)". He embodied the Stoic's belief in the human spirit even under unfavorable circumstances. His achievements and ideas aided in the progress of the Renaissance.

Bibliography Alberti, Leon Battista. //On Painting//, edited by John R. Spencer. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966. Alberti, Leon Battista. //The Family in Renaissance Florence//, edited by R. Watkins. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1969. Alberti, Leon Battista. //Self-Portrait,// c. 1435. Sculpture. http://www.artstor.org/ (accessed February 17, 2010). Borsi, Franco. //Leon Battista Alberti: The Complete Works//. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, 1989. Gadol, Joan. //Leon Battista Alberti: Universal Man of the Early Renaissance.// Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1969. Grafton, Anthony. //Commerce with the Classics.// Michigan//:// University of Michigan Press, 1997//.// Grafton, Anthony. //Leon Battista Alberti: Master Builder of the Renaissance//. New York: Hill And Wang, 2000. Marah, David. //The Quattrocento Dialogue.// Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 1980.

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