Page "Leon Battista Alberti" Paragraph 7

In Rome, Alberti had plenty of time to study its ancient sites, ruins, and objects.

His detailed observations, included in his De Re Aedificatoria ( 1452, Ten Books of Architecture ), were patterned after the De architectura by the Roman architect and engineer Vitruvius ( fl.

46 – 30 BC ).

The work was the first architectural treatise of the Renaissance.

It covered a wide range of subjects, from history to town planning, and engineering to the philosophy of beauty.

De re aedificatoria, a large and expensive book, was not fully published until 1485, after which it became a major reference for architects.

However, the book was written " not only for craftsmen but also for anyone interested in the noble arts ," as Alberti put it.

Originally published in Latin, the first Italian edition came out in 1546. and the standard Italian edition by Cosimo Bartoli was published in 1550.

Pope Nicholas V, to whom Alberti dedicated the whole work, dreamed of rebuilding the city of Rome, but he managed to realize only a fragment of his visionary plans.

Through his book, Alberti opened up his theories and ideals of the Florentine Renaissance to architects, scholars and others.