Leon Battista Alberti: Master Builder of the Italian Renaissance [Hardcover]

Anthony Grafton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 30, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0809097524 | ISBN-13: 978-0809097524 | Edition: 1st

A lucid biographical study of a key figure of European culture

Leon Battista Alberti (1404-72) was one of the most original, creative, and exciting figures of the Italian Renaissance. He wrote the first modern treatise on painting, the first modern manual of classical architecture, and a powerful set of "dialogues" about the princely families that dominated his home city of Florence. He rediscovered the forgotten aesthetics of classical architecture and described, in incomparably vivid terms, the artistic revolution in Florence that began what we now call the Renaissance. But Alberti was more than a mere chronicler--he practiced what he preached. He made spectacular advances in the art of painting and in engineering, and as an architect he was responsible for some of the most exciting buildings in Italy. Yet in spite of his central importance, work on Alberti has for the most part been confined to scholarly monographs. Here, one of our greatest Renaissance scholars offers the general book that Alberti has so long deserved. This is a compelling portrait of a mysterious, original, and highly unusual intellectual, and a colorful tableau of the cities and courts in which he lived and worked.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

One of the great geniuses of the early Renaissance, Alberti was a master of historical architecture as well as a creator of some of his own era's lasting monuments. A noted writer and courtier, he embraced all of the activities of the 15th-century Italian "universal man," including being a superb athlete. To keep up with and relate all he achieved requires a superman of a historian. Princeton history professor Grafton (Defenders of the Text; The Footnote; etc.) modestly states: "No historian knows all of Alberti's fields of interestAor even a majority of themAat close hand." Still, the present book is an admirably clear-headed look at Alberti's creative endeavors; it is hard to think of any other writer who might have done it better. Alberti's works like the Malatesta Temple in Rimini, the basilica of Santa Maria Novella in Florence and San Sebastiano church in Mantua are described concisely, with a refreshing absence of tedious art historical jargon. There are especially perceptive comments on Alberti as a writer, not just of the famous treatise On the Art of Building, known to every beginning architecture student, but also of lesser-known works like the long satire, Momus. A passage in the latter work is aptly described as "bizarrely Brechtian" for its depiction of a screaming street beggar. Alberti's poetic fables are also highlighted for their wistful morals like, "Do you think it's easy to work out what age has to do with ripeness?" There are solid, historically based chapters on "The Architect and City Planner," "The Artist at Court" and "From New Technologies to Fine Arts." There is also psychological detail about Alberti the man, idealized in previous descriptions such as Jakob Burckhardt's renowned study. Autobiographical writings, as Grafton shows, portray Alberti as tormented with doubts, depression, grief and fear. Despite such humanizing material, Alberti still comes across as something of a superman, if only for the vast amount he was able to achieve. This book will prove useful to anyone interested in the Italian Renaissance in architecture, literature and painting, and will win new fans for Grafton as well as his subject. lllus. not seen by PW. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Anthony Grafton treats Alberti's writings as mosaics fashioned out of passages collected from ancient sources. He shows that, in the compositional interstices between such passages, Alberti expresses his most immediate social concerns: with his own position and with the reception of the work by his first readers. By focusing on the interstices rather than on the body of the texts, Grafton draws the most convincing portrait to date of Alberti as a man in a social environment.
--Jack M. Greenstein (Wall Street Journal )

[Grafton] has produced a convincing and engaging account of Alberti's intellectual milieu in what is arguably the most important general contribution to Albertian studies of recent decades.
--Bruce Boucher (New York Times Book Review ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 417 pages
• Publisher: Hill and Wang; 1st edition (September 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809097524
• ISBN-13: 978-0809097524
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,383,004 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Biography of a Renaissance genius by a modern one., February 6, 2011

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R. Watkins "mood diversion" (Berkeley, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Leon Battista Alberti: Master Builder of the Italian Renaissance (Paperback)

Alberti has left us some architecture and a lot of writing, but it is difficult to build a three dimensional portrait of this man. Anthony Grafton is one of the best modern historians of European thought, and has made full and imaginative use of the documents, giving us a rich sense of Alberti's values and preoccupations. It helps too that Grafton's prose is colloquial and precise at the same time. Enjoy!

8 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A review by a decendant, January 7, 2001

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Leon Battista Alberti: Master Builder of the Italian Renaissance (Hardcover)

My surname is Alberti (52 years old), I am a direct decendant of Leon Battista Alberti (1404-72). It was a very personal experience to read Mr. Graftons book. How often in this fast paced world do we forget our roots and our heritage. Since my father is still living there are 4 generations of Alberti's all residing in the United States. I appreciated Mr. Graftons style of brining to life the man behind the ledgend. Thank you Mr. Grafton, you have added much to the completion of the history of my family and ancestory.