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Leon Battista Alberti
Italian architect and author (1404-1472) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Leon Battista Alberti (Italian: [leˈom batˈtista alˈbɛrti]; 14 February 1404 – 25 April 1472) was an Italian Renaissance humanist author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, and cryptographer; he epitomised the nature of those identified now as polymaths. He is considered the founder of Western cryptography, a claim he shares with Johannes Trithemius.[1][2]
Leon Battista Alberti | |
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![]() Presumed self-portrait of Alberti | |
Born | 14 February 1404 |
Died | 25 April 1472(1472-04-25) (aged 68) Rome, Papal States |
Nationality | Italian |
Known for | Architecture, linguistics, poetry |
Notable work | Tempio Malatestiano, Palazzo Rucellai, Santa Maria Novella, Basilica of Sant'Andrea |
Movement | Italian Renaissance |
He is often considered primarily an architect. However, as James Beck has observed,[3] "to single out one of Leon Battista's 'fields' over others as somehow functionally independent and self-sufficient is of no help at all to any effort to characterize Alberti's extensive explorations in the fine arts". Although Alberti is known mostly as an artist, he was also a mathematician and made significant contributions to that field.[4] Among the most famous buildings he designed are the churches of San Sebastiano (1460) and Sant’Andrea (1472), both in Mantua.[5]
Alberti's life was told in Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects.