Week 3

Rediscovery of the Classical Past: Alberti and Antiquity

Leone Battista Alberti(1401-1472) 

Was born in Genoa and was one of the greatest scholars of his age. He was given an excellent education going to two universities first the University of Padua where he learned greek and latin and then the University of Bologna where he studied law. In 1428 the banishment of his family was revoked and he went back to florence. Alberti then took up the practice of architecture in Florence which is when he probably first met Brunelleschi, Donatello and Ghiberti. Alberti later went to Rome to study the ruins of classical antiquity. Alberti was more interested in the rules governing the arts then in the structural system of architecture.  

De re Aedificatoria (ten books of architecture) 

Written by Alberti in 1452. This was written to the basic principles of architecture by Vitruvius as a guide without copying him. Much of his treatise is recognizable as a product of the early Humanist age. He refers to development one's own capacity in order to secure the public good. He looks at architecture as a designer rather than just a builder. He also gives examples to regularize use of classical elements. In De re Aedificatoria he refers to the column as the principle ornament of architecture. This showed he was ignorant of the functional nature of the column in greek architecture.

San Francesco, Rimini 1450 

Alberti designed the church San Francesco for Sigismondo Malatesta the ruler of Rimini. With this church Alberti was no longer harmonizing with prior work but he was cloaking for a classical facade. It is know for its white marbe facade and arcade of large arches facing the south and containing the sarcophagi. The arches also have engaged columns. It ranks as one of the foremost churchs in italy. It has six chapels one containg Sigismondo and his wife.

Santa Maria Novella- (facade-1458-1470)

This Florentine church was commissioned by the Rucellai family. It's design was off of an existing building. The building was originally a gothic type of church. Alberti maintains the use of serpentine green and white marble but not the gothic style. He uses the corinthian capital and the the name of the patron is at the top of the church as well as sails representing the Rucellai family. He divided the building into equal sections, the height of  the building is equal to its width forming a large square. Also the lower part of the facade is divided by the main door which form two squares. Each of these squares is one quarter the area of the large square. Also the scrolls are used a transitional method and the large occuli is matched by medallions at the center and on the sides. This is very characteristic of Alberti's work. As said by Peter Murray, "Alberti frequently adverts to the necessity for such simple harmonic proportions. 

San Sebastiano, Mantua beg.1460

San Sebastiano is one of two churchs designed by Alberti in the later years of his life. It is building is a Greek cross in plan. The church has a high flight of stairs because Alberti thought churches 'should stand  on a high base isolated from the world around them. It has a classical temple front. The greek cross represents the perfection of god. The church may have been based off of two possible churches, the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia of about 450 and the Church of Sta Croce of the same date. This greek cross plan was not all that popular because it was hard to place a congregation. It was commissioned to be built by Lodovico Gonzaga.

Sant' Andrea, Mantua beg.1470

S. Andrea was designed just two years before Alberti died. Much of the church was not completed until the eighteenth century. The plan of this church is a Latin Cross type. In S. Andrea there are no aisles but a series of alternating large and small spaces opening off the nave at right angles to it. The larger spaces are used as chapels. The nave has a tunnel-like character. Alberti was modeling off of roman prototypes in hi interior. The nave of S. Andrea has a barrel-vault with painted coffers. It is by far the largest and heaviest nave since classical times. Due to this weight enormous abutments(solid masonry placed to resist the lateral pressure of a vault) carry the weight of the vaulting. This type of Latin cross plan was very widely copied in the later sixteenth century. The facade has an interlocking of a classical triumphal arch with a classical temple front. You can see in this building and other later building designed by Alberti that he was much more dependent on Roman prototypes. 

Palazzo Rucellai
The palace was designed by Alberti between 1446 and 1451 and is located in Florence Italy. It is three stories with stylar masonry and superimposition. It has pilasters and entablatures. The pilasters are a part of the wall. It has rustication and each story has a different classical order. Tuscan at the bottom, Ionic on the second level and Corinthian on the third. The two upper stories have arched windows. It was also worked on by Bernardo Rossellino (1409-1463)

Palazzo Venezia (1455-1491)

A palace in central Rome traditionally attributed to Alberti. The patron of the church was Cardinal Pietro Barbo later called Pope Paul the second. It has the apperance of a medeival fortress. But, it has some of the first Renaissance architectural features in Rome. The Palace has cross-mullioned windows. The original structure was a modest medieval house intended for the cardinals of the church of San Marco. 

Cancelleria Vecchia (1485-1511)

It is a Renaissance Palace in Rome. It was built for Cardinal Raffaele Riario. Its design looks influenced by Alberti with its flat doubled pilasters between arch headed windows. It's long facade engulfs the small Basilica Church of San Lorenzo in Damaso.