DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.26532#0039
INTRODUCTION. xvii
came one of the molt generally learned men of that
age; and a very eminent contributor to the reitera-
tion of literature and the arts, Equally prosound
and elegant, phllosophy, law, mathematics, philo-
logy, poetry were all samiliar to him. He was prac-
tically conversant with painting and sculpture ; in
Architecture superior (taking theory and execution
together as necessary to complete the artist) to all
of his time. His work de re aedificatoria was the
first systematical treatise on the subjeCt, since the
earliest revival os the fine arts, that received and has
retained the approbation of poscerity. He distributed
it into ten books, in imitation, probably, os Vitruvius,
of whom he appears to have been a little invidiously
emulous, by his diligence in bringing forward that
author’s errors in doCtrine and saults of style. As
a practical architect: he was employed in Rome by
Pope Nicolas V. in the repair of the conduit of the
Acqua Vergine; and sor the construCtion of the Fon-
tana di Trevi; since rebuilt by Salvi, with much
magnificence, at the expence of Clement XII. At
the same time, Alberti furnished a design for covering
the bridge os St. Angelo, one of the moil frequented
passages in that capital, where multitudes are st ill
exposed to the full essect os a scorching sun in the
hottest months, for want of such a protection. For
Sigismond Pandolf Malatesla he conducted, what is
generally considered as his master-piece, the new
works and embellishments of the church os St,
Francis at Rimini, lest, however, unfinished by him.
For Lewis Gonzaga the reigning Marquis, among
other
K 2
came one of the molt generally learned men of that
age; and a very eminent contributor to the reitera-
tion of literature and the arts, Equally prosound
and elegant, phllosophy, law, mathematics, philo-
logy, poetry were all samiliar to him. He was prac-
tically conversant with painting and sculpture ; in
Architecture superior (taking theory and execution
together as necessary to complete the artist) to all
of his time. His work de re aedificatoria was the
first systematical treatise on the subjeCt, since the
earliest revival os the fine arts, that received and has
retained the approbation of poscerity. He distributed
it into ten books, in imitation, probably, os Vitruvius,
of whom he appears to have been a little invidiously
emulous, by his diligence in bringing forward that
author’s errors in doCtrine and saults of style. As
a practical architect: he was employed in Rome by
Pope Nicolas V. in the repair of the conduit of the
Acqua Vergine; and sor the construCtion of the Fon-
tana di Trevi; since rebuilt by Salvi, with much
magnificence, at the expence of Clement XII. At
the same time, Alberti furnished a design for covering
the bridge os St. Angelo, one of the moil frequented
passages in that capital, where multitudes are st ill
exposed to the full essect os a scorching sun in the
hottest months, for want of such a protection. For
Sigismond Pandolf Malatesla he conducted, what is
generally considered as his master-piece, the new
works and embellishments of the church os St,
Francis at Rimini, lest, however, unfinished by him.
For Lewis Gonzaga the reigning Marquis, among
other
K 2