Lecture 12: Early Renaissance Architecture in Florence
Classical drapery around the neck. Beneath his chin is his personal emblem,
a winged eye.Alberti’s Rucellai Palace (c. late 1440s, Florence) was built for Giovanni
Rucellai, a Florentine merchant, but it was never ¿ nished; only about two-
thirds of the façade was realized. Alberti designed it but did not oversee
the construction, which was managed by Bernardo Rossellino, an architect
and sculptor. Even though un¿ nished, it still inÀ uenced later palace design.
The façade is three stories of equal height, built of stone, with large square
doors and small square windows on the ground À oor; in such palaces, the
ground À oor was always massive and partly forti¿ ed in appearance. On the
upper À oors, large square windows are divided by a mullion and topped by a
design of three semicircles enclosed by a wide stone arch. On all levels, the
façade was given a screen-like grid by the application of pilasters (À attened
columns) and by broad horizontal friezes. A massive cornice crowned and
enclosed the architectural composition. This composition is not randomly
arranged but mathematically determined by a system of proportion that
also brought the façade into harmony with human proportions. The linear
divisions of the stone façade do not always correspond to the actual blocks
of stone—they are imposed upon it—nor are the pilasters at all structural.The next image represents the façade of the church of Santa Maria Novella
(c. 1458–1470, Florence) by Alberti. Giovanni Rucellai also paid the
commission to ¿ nish this façade. Alberti was asked to design the façade to
complete the earlier church, although a façade had been commenced around
1300, and the Gothic elements and typically Italian use of contrasting colors
of marble introduced then are still present. Alberti introduced the arcade on
the lower story to unite the earlier elements, then designed a wide strip—
more a mezzanine than a frieze—to separate the two stories. The second
story is given a temple-like appearance, dominated by a large rose window
and a steep gable. The problem of church façade design stemmed from
elevation, with three naves below and a narrower clerestory level. To make
the transition less abrupt (and to disguise the buttress supports for the upper
walls of the central nave), Alberti introduced two spectacular volutes. They
are decorative and double-curved to smooth out the composition, and they
have an important structural role.