Palazzo Rucellai– Alberti Leon Battista (1446-1451)

Artist Biographical Sketch• Born in Genoa on Feb. 14, 1404, Italian architect, art theorist, and

humanist, after pursuing a literary career as papal secretary, in 1438 Alberti Leon Battista was encouraged to direct his talents toward the field of architecture. His designs for the Palazzo Rucellai and the facade of Santa Maria Novella, both in Florence, are noted for their harmonic proportions. His central-plan church of Sant'Andrea, Mantua (begun 1472), with its triumphal-arch motif, is an early Renaissance masterpiece. Alberti was one of the foremost theorists on Renaissance architecture and art, known for codifying the principles of linear perspective. A prototype of the Renaissance man, he also made contributions to moral philosophy, cartography, and cryptography. He died in Rome early April, 1472.

Santa Maria Novela – Leon Alberti Battista (1456-1470)