9/10/07 - Architectural History - Leon Battista Alberti 1404-72

Alberti was born illegitimately into a wealthy family who were exiled to Geneva. His family could afford for him to have a good education, allowing him to be an astute student of Classical literature. He made a more suitable and detailed copy of Vitruvius' On Building in 1452, and entitled it De re aedificatoria. He was allowed to go to Florence and there he saw the almost-completed dome of Florence Cathedral. He was inspired by Brunelleschi's work to become an architect. He would have begun as an amateur who gave advice on building, and eventually allowed a more free rein and more control, rising up the ranks.

Michelozzo's Medici Palace, has rusticated base walls made of huge stones, and gradually the walls become less rusticated the higher they rise. Alberti makes use of this feature in the Palazzo Rucellai (1450s), although his design is much more Classical. On the bottom, his building is much more opaque, for the design appears to be drawn onto the facade; the columns do not stand out three-dimensionally from the wall. When Alberti designed the building, he was translating from the Colosseum. For example, the columns support entablatures, rather than arches as in Brunelleschi's architecture.

Malatesta became Alberti's patron in San Francesco. The Tempio Malatestiano is unfinished, but it has a robust Roman style which was very particular to Alberti. He was aiming for a slight structure, not the Gothic. Matteo di Pasti was the director of work for the building and he was described in terms of villainy and burned in effigy before St Peter's Church, then canonized a saint of hell.

"However, he did build a noble temple at Rimini in honour of St Francis; though indeed he filled it to such an extent with pagan sculptures that the temple seemed to be dedicated not so much to Christianity as for the worship of infidel demons..."
[Pius II (Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini), Commentaries]

The building is indeed an oddity. It has gravity and emulates ancient Rome, supposedly possessing the same qualities as its patrons. When Alberti had to adapt the Classical language of architecture into a Christian form, he found that it was incredibly adaptable. The Arch of Augustus was designed by him using columns, roundels and arches.

The east end of the Tempio Malatestiano is unfinished, as illustrated in a medal by di Pasti. It consists of steps and a pantheon and a triumphal arch and niches containing the sarcophagi of great people. The white marble of the building was stolen from local gravestones.

On the facade of Alberti's Santa Maria Novella is a combination of Gothic and Classical: pointed arches, occuli. This is because Alberti was asked to reconstruct an existing building. He did this using his Classical knowledge, and thereby shows the flexibility of the Classical language, but there were some Gothic features which he was not allowed to change. The idea of a broad building and a small temple-shaped top which is high in the middle and low at the sides was exemplified by Santa Maria Novella. Alberti paid attention to proportion and geometry, for the front of the building would fit into a square perfectly.

Alberti went to San Sebastiano in Mantua as an advocate. It is a building made of brick, in a place where stone was not readily available. It was his most Roman building so far, yet it is not built of columns but of parts gauged out to create space. The building appears top-heavy due to the crypt doorways, but perhaps we were not meant to see these doorways in Alberti's plans. The church proper has no freestanding supports. Instead, Alberti used thick walls to support the superstructure. He shows perseverance by omitting columns due to the lack of building materials. The top-heavy appearance has puzzled many people. Wittkower suggests that Alberti's intention had been to add six pilasters rather than two, and steps rather than crypt doors.

Sant'Andrea, Mantua, was designed by Alberti in 1472, the year of his death, so he unfortunately did not see his completed work. The building is apto-adaptive, or rather, it is meant to display the relic of Christ; it is degno, or dignified; lieto, which means light and cheerful; and eterno, meaning it will have longevity. Alberti planned the space to be columnless because he thought they would get in the way of travellers arriving to see the relic of Christ. Another architect admitted a design for the building, but Alberti was sure his own would be better because it would be cheaper. His version was like an Etruscum sacrum, an Etruscan shrine. Sant'Andrea has a more modern interpretation of the Classical language. While it has a temple-like appearance, this is one set into the stone walls, and not a three-dimensional projection. It has a triumphal arch design like the Arch of Constantine, yet this too is make opaque. Perhaps Alberti did not intend the rest of the building to be as it is: he probably did not design the dome or imagine the church's size or create the Latin cross form. But he did intend for the occuli which are built into the walls to create light in the interior. Barrel vaulting gives the interior a 'Roman' feel, and there are as Alberti planned, no columns to get in the way. The exterior and interior are woven together in Alberti's design.