Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472 CE) was an Italian scholar, architect, mathematician, and advocate of Renaissance humanism. Alberti famously wrote the treatise On Architecture where he outlines the key elements of classical architecture and how these might be reused in contemporary buildings. Even more influential were his writings on painting and sculpture, which transformed the theoretical practices of Renaissance artists. Alberti put his ideas into practice and designed many churches in various Italian cities, perhaps the most influential being the San Andrea of Mantua (1470 CE), the first monumental classicizing building of the Renaissance.
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Definition
Timeline
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1404 - 1472Life of the Italian Renaissance architect Leon Battista Alberti.
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14 Feb 1404The Italian Renaissance architect Leon Battista Alberti is born in Genoa.
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1428The Italian Renaissance architect Leon Battista Alberti receives his doctorate in canon law from the University of Bologna.
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1432The Italian Renaissance architect Leon Battista Alberti begins to work in Rome as a papal secretary.
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1432The Italian Renaissance architect Leon Battista Alberti writes his treatise Della famiglia (On the Family).
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1435The Italian Renaissance architect Leon Battista Alberti writes his treatise De pictura (On Painting).
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1447The Italian Renaissance architect Leon Battista Alberti becomes the architectural adviser of Pope Nicholas V.
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c. 1450The Italian Renaissance architect Leon Battista Alberti designs the facade for the Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini.
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c. 1450The Italian Renaissance architect Leon Battista Alberti designs the Palazzo Rucellai in Florence.
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1452The Italian Renaissance architect Leon Battista Alberti writes his treatise on architecture, On Building (De Re Aedificatoria).
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1456The Italian Renaissance architect Leon Battista Alberti translates his treatise on architecture, On Building (De Re Aedificatoria) into the Tuscan vernacular.
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c. 1458The Italian Renaissance architect Leon Battista Alberti designs the new facade for the Santa Maria Novella church in Florence.
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1460The Italian Renaissance architect Leon Battista Alberti designs the San Sebastiano church in Mantua.
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1464The Italian Renaissance architect Leon Battista Alberti writes his treatise on sculpture.
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c. 1470The Italian Renaissance architect Leon Battista Alberti designs the Basilica San Andrea in Mantua.
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25 Apr 1472The Italian Renaissance architect Leon Battista Alberti dies in Rome.