ALBERTI, LEON BATTISTA

born Feb. 14, 1404, Genoa died April 25, 1472, Rome Italian Humanist, architect, and principal initiator of Renaissance art theory. In his personality, works, and breadth of learning, he is considered the prototype of the Renaissance universal man. Additional reading A comprehensive introduction to Alberti's life and work is offered in Joan Kelly-Gadol, Leon Battista Alberti: Universal Man of the Early Renaissance (1969, reprinted 1973). Franco Borsi, Leon Battista Alberti (1977, reissued 1989), is a broad and excellently illustrated treatment by a historian of architecture. An in-depth study of the cultural and social background of Alberti's architectural endeavours is found in Carroll William Westfall, In This Most Perfect Paradise: Alberti, Nicholas V, and the Invention of Conscious Urban Planning in Rome, 144755 (1974). The following studies of some of the fields in which Alberti worked give interesting appraisals of the contributions he made to them: David Kahn, The Codebreakers: The Story of Secret Writing (1967); Erwin Panofsky, Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art, 2 vol. (1960, reissued 1972); Rudolf Wittkower, Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism, 4th ed. (1973, reissued 1988); William Harrison Woodward, Studies in Education During the Age of the Renaissance, 14001600 (1906, reissued 1965). Major Works: Architecture. Palazzo Rucellai, Florence (c. 144551); S. Francesco, Tempio Malatestiano, Rimini (144750); facade, Sta. Maria Novella, Florence (145670); S. Sebastiano, Mantua (146070); Rucellai Chapel, Florence (1467); S. Andrea, Mantua (c. 1470); SS. Annunziata, Florence (designed c. 1470). Writings. Della famiglia (written 143544); De pictura praestantissima (1435); Della pittura (1436; On Painting, 1956); De re aedificatoria (promulgated in 1452; published in 1485; Ten Books on Architecture, 1955); De iciarchia (1468).