ALBERTI, Leon Battista, distinguished as a painter, poet, philosopher, musician, and especially as an architect, was descended from the noble family of the Alberti of Florence. The place and date of his birth are variously given, but it is most probable that he was born at Venice about the year 1404. He was so skilled in Latin verse that a comedy he wrote in his twentieth year, entitled Philodoxius, deceived the younger Aldus, who edited and published it as the genuine work of Lepidus. In music he was reputed one of the first organists of the age. He held the appointment of canon in the metropolitan church of Florence, and thus had leisure to devote himself to his favourite art. He is generally regarded as one of the restorers of the ancient style of architecture, and has been called by some writers the Florentine Vitruvius. At Rome he was employed by Pope Nicholas V. in the restoration of the papal palace and of the fountain of Acqua Vergine, and in the ornamentation of the fountain of the Piazza de Trevi. At Rimini he designed the celebrated church of San Francesco, which is generally esteemed his finest work. On a commission from Rucellai, he designed the principal facade of the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, as well as the family palace in the Via della Scala, now known as the Palazzo Strozzi. In Mantua he was employed by the Marchese Ludovico Gonzaga to design several buildings, the most important being the church of Sant’ Andrea. Alberti wrote works on sculpture, Della Statua, and on painting, De Pictura, which are highly esteemed; but his most celebrated treatise is that on architecture, De Be Aedificatoria, which has been translated into Italian, French, Spanish, and English. A splendid edition of this work in English and Italian, by Leoni, was ...