Leon Battista Alberti was an Italian architect, linguist, and poet during the Renaissance period. He is notable for three works - Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini, Palazzo Rucellai in Florence, and Santa Maria Novella in Florence. For Santa Maria Novella, Alberti attempted to bring classical proportions and detailing to the existing Gothic church, adding Corinthian columns, pilasters, and an upper section to the facade. At Palazzo Rucellai, Alberti designed the symmetrical facade using the three classical orders of architecture in an upward progression inspired by the Colosseum. For St. Andrea in Mantua, Alberti designed the church based on a triumphal arch motif

1. Leon Battista Alberti
Known for- Architecture, Linguistics, Poetry
Notable work-Tempio Malatestiano , Palazzo
Rucellai, Santa Maria Novella, St. Andrea Mantua
Movement- Italian Renaissance
Made & Presented By-
Nikhar Mehra
Mohd.Ibtisam
Karan bhadana
A Presentation On His 3 Famous Works

2. ST. ANDREA MANTUA

3. INTRODUCTION
•ARCHITECT : LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI
•LOCATION : MANTUA,ITALY
•BUILDING TYPE : CHURCH
•CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM : BRICK BEARING MASONRY
•CLIMATE : MEDITERRANIAN
•STYLE : EARLY RENNAISSANCE

4. FEATURES
•It is a renaissance roman catholic church.
•The church was begun in 1462 according to designs by leon battista
alberti on a site occupied by a benedictine monastery, of which the bell
tower (1414) remains.
•The building, however, was finished only 328 years later.
•An important aspect was the correspondence between the façade and
the interior elevations, both elaborations of the triumphal arch motif.

5. FACADE
• It is defined by a large central arch,
flanked by corinthian pilasters.
• The height of the facade equals its
width.
• Based on the scheme of the ancient
arch of titus.

6. The facade pilasters continue through three
stories – the so-called "giant" order.
It is largely a brick structure with hardened
stucco.
The whole is surmounted by a pediment and
above that a vaulted structure.

7. •Barrel vault of the nave reached well above the apex of the pediment,
which was also surmounted by a large canopy over the nave window

8. INTERIOR
•The interior of the cathedral
boasts a rounded barrel-
vaulted dome which is covered
in frescoes.
•Filippo juvarra was the actual
builder of the dome and
details.
DOME

9. •This church has a single nave without side aisles while
three barrel-vaulted chapels are on each side of the nave.
•The crossing is marked by a dome.
PLAN
Dome
Nave
A – Side Chapel
Apse

10. THE COFFERED BARREL-VAULTED NAVE--LOOKING
TOWARD THE APSE.
THE NAVE OF THE INTERIOR IS ROOFED BY
A BARREL VAULT.
THE WALLS ARE
DECORATED BY
FRESCOES.

11. BASILICAOF SANTA MARIA
NOVELLA

12. Introduction
• Santa Maria Novella is a church in Florence, Italy, situated just across
from the main railway station named after it.
• Chronologically, it is the first great basilica in Florence, and is the city's
principal Dominican church.
• The church, the adjoining cloister, and chapter house contain a
multiplicity of art treasures and funerary monuments. Especially
famous are frescoes by masters of Gothic and early Renaissance.
• They were financed by the most important Florentine families, who
ensured themselves funerary chapels on consecrated ground.

13. History
• Architectural type Church
• Architectural style Gothic-Renaissance
• This church was called Novella (New) because it was built on the site of the
9th-century oratory of Santa Maria delle Vigne.
• When the site was assigned to Dominican Order in 1221, they decided to
build a new church and adjoining cloister.
• The church was designed by two Dominican friars, Fra Sisto Fiorentino and
Fra Ristoro da Campi
• Building began in the mid-13th century (about 1246), and was finished
about 1360
• The church was consecrated in 1420.

14. What did Alberti added
• Alberti attempted to bring the ideals of humanist architecture, proportion
and classically inspired detailing to bear on the design, while also creating
harmony with the already existing medieval part of the façade.
• His contribution consists of a broad frieze decorated with squares, and the
full upper part, including the four white-green pilasters and a round
window, crowned by a pediment with the Dominican solar emblem, and
flanked on both sides by enormous S-curved volutes.
• The pediment and the frieze are clearly inspired by the antiquity, but the
S-curved scrolls in the upper part are new and without precedent in
antiquity. The scrolls (or variations of them), found in churches all over
Italy, all find their origin here in the design of this church.

15. • The four columns with Corinthian capitals on the lower part of the façade were
also added.
• The frieze below the pediment carries the name of the patron : IOHAN(N)ES
ORICELLARIUS PAU(LI) F(ILIUS) AN(NO) SAL(UTIS) MCCCCLXX (Giovanni Rucellai son
of Paolo in the year of salvation 1470).

16. • The interior also contains
Corinthian columns that were
inspired by Greek and Roman
classical models
• The stained-glass windows date
from the 14th and 15th century.
Some stained glass windows
have been damaged in the
course of centuries and have
been replaced.
• The pulpit, commissioned by the
Rucellai family in 1443, was
designed by Filippo Brunelleschi
and executed by his adopted
son Andrea Calvalcanti.
Stained glass window
Pulpit
Corinthian columns

17. INTERIOR
• The vast interior is based on a basilica plan,
designed as a Latin cross, and is divided into a
nave, two aisles with stained-glass windows and a
short transept.
• The large nave is 100 metres long and gives an
impression of austerity.
• There is a trompe l'oeil (realistic imagery to create
the optical illusion) effect by which towards
the apse the nave seems longer than its actual
length.
• The slender compound piers between the nave
and the aisles are progressively closer the deeper
the observer moves into the nave.
• The ceiling in the vault consists pointed arches
with the four diagonal buttresses in black and
white.

18. On a commission from Giovanni di Paolo
Rucellai, a local textile merchant, Leone
Battista Alberti, designed the upper part of
the inlaid black and white marble facade of
the church (1456 - 1470).

21. The Holy Trinity
• The Holy Trinity, situated almost
halfway along the left aisle, is a
pioneering early Renaissance work
of Masaccio, showing his new ideas
about perspective and
mathematical proportions.
• Its meaning for the art of painting
can easily be compared to the
importance of Brunelleschi for
architecture and Donatello for
sculpture.
• The patrons were the judge and his
wife, members of the Lenzi family,
here depicted kneeling.
• The cadaver tomb below carries in
Latin the epigram: "I was once what
you are, and what I am you will
become".

22. CHAPELS
Filippo Strozzi Chapel
• The Filippo Strozzi Chapel is situated on the
right side of the main altar.
Gondi Chapel
• This chapel is situated on the left side of the
main altar and dates from the end of the
13th century. Here, on the rear wall, is the
famous wooden Crucifix by Brunelleschi, one
of his very few sculpture
Rucellai Chapel
• The Rucellai Chapel, at the end of the right
aisle, dates from the 14th century. . The
bronze tomb, in the centre of the floor, was
made by Lorenzo Ghiberti in 1425
Gondi Chapel
Rucellai Chapel

23. Cappella Strozzi di Mantova
• The Cappella Strozzi di
Mantova is situated at the end
of the left transept. The large
stained-glass window on the
back was made from a
cartoon by the two brothers.
Della Pura Chapel
• The Della Pura Chapel is
situated north of the old
cemetery. It dates from 1474
and was constructed with
Renaissance columns.
: Madonna and child
-Duccio di Buoninsegna
- Della Pura Chapel

24. Bardi Chapel
• The Bardi Chapel, the second chapel on
the right of the apse, was founded
by Riccardo Bardi and dates from early
14th century.
Sacristy
• The sacristy, at the end of the left aisle
• The large Gothic window with
three mullions at the back wall dates
from 1386 and was based on cartoons
by Niccolò di Pietro Gerini
Ornate cabinet in the sacristy
of Santa Maria Novella

25. Spanish Chapel
• The Spanish Chapel is the
former chapter house of the
monastery. It is situated at
the north side of the green
Cloister.
• Construction started c. 1343
and was finished in 1355.
• The complex iconography of
the ceiling vault, walls, and
altar combine to
communicate the message of
Dominicans as guides to
salvation.

26. PALAZZO RUCELLAI

27. Introduction..
• The Palazzo Rucellai is one of the best examples
of architecture fifteenth in Florence , located in Via
della Vigna Nuova 18.
• Its facade was designed by Leon Battista Alberti and
was the first in a series of major architectural
changes that the architect and theorist of the
Renaissance performed for the family Rucellai .
• The building, commissioned by the wealthy
merchant Giovanni Rucellai .
• All three stories are of equal height with flat
pilasters supporting a classical entablature

28. Façade..
• Alberti’s overriding concern with balance and
proportion is evident in his symmetrical
treatment of the palace’s facade.
• The use of the three classical orders to
indicate upward progression was inspired by
the Colosseum at Rome.
• The structural elements of ancient Rome are
replicated in
– The arches
– pilasters
– entablatures

29. The ground floor..
• Higher than the upper floors,
• The pilasters on the ground floor have
the Tuscan order at the base- a reinterpretation
of the ' Doric columns’
• in front is a "bench away," an element of
practical use and which also created a sort of
basic plan for the palace, as if it were
a stylobate in ancient roman buildings.
• The backrest of the bench play is the Opus
reticulatum : a form of brickwork used in ancient
Roman architecture, (the skill having been lost
with the end of the Roman Empire, and
rediscovered by means of archeology by Leon
Battista Alberti.)

30. The first floor…
• On the first floor ( main floor )
the pilasters are a Renaissance original:
Alberti's own invention (acanthus leaves
with a center palmette) in place of
the Ionic order at the second level
• large double windows, with embossed
frame, column and oculus at the center.

31. The second floor
• The top floor pilasters have Corinthian
style
• altering with mullioned windows of the
same type.
• Above the building is crowned by
a cornice projecting slightly, supported
by brackets , which is hidden beyond a
loggia; evidence of the break with
medieval tradition and openness to the
great age of Renaissance.

32. Plan

33. Uses…
• The ground floor was for business (the
Rucellai family were powerful bankers)
and was flanked by benches running
along the street facade.
• The second story (the piano nobile) was
the main formal reception floor and
• the third story the private family and
sleeping quarters.
• A fourth "hidden" floor under the roof
was for servants; because it had almost
no windows, it was quite dark inside.

34. REFERENCES
•WWW.GREATBUILDINGS.COM
•WWW.WIKIPEDIA.COM
•WWW.GOOGLE.COM
•WWW.BLUFFTON.EDU
•HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE (BY SIR BANISTER FLETCHER)