566 Chapter 21 ITALY,1400 TO 150021-37Michelozzo di Bartolommeo,
interior court of the Palazzo Medici-
Riccardi, Florence, Italy, begun 1445.
The Medici palace’s interior court sur-
rounded by a round-arched colonnade
was the first of its kind, but the austere
design clearly reveals Michelozzo’s debt
to Brunelleschi (FIG. 21-31).
21-38Leon Battista Alberti and Bernardo Rossellino, Palazzo
Rucellai, Florence, Italy, ca. 1452–1470.
Alberti was an ardent student of classical architecture. He created the
illusion that the Palazzo Rucellai becomes lighter toward its top by
adapting the Roman manner of using different capitals for each story.Michelozzo’s models (compare FIGS. 10-32, 10-39,and 10-47), the
Palazzo Medici-Riccardi cornice is an effective lid for the structure,
clearly and emphatically defining its proportions. Michelozzo also
may have drawn inspiration from the many extant examples of Ro-
man rusticated masonry, and Roman precedents even existed for the
juxtaposition of rusticated and dressed stone masonry on the same
facade (FIG. 10-34). However, nothing in the ancient world precisely
compares to Michelozzo’s design. The Palazzo Medici exemplifies the
simultaneous respect for and independence from the antique that
characterize the Early Renaissance in Italy.
The heart of the Palazzo Medici is an open colonnaded court (FIG.
21-37) that clearly shows Michelozzo’s debt to Brunelleschi. The
round-arched colonnade, although more massive in its proportions,
closely resembles other buildings Brunelleschi designed. This internal
court surrounded by an arcade was the first of its kind and influenced a
long line of descendants in Renaissance domestic architecture.
LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI Although he entered the profes-
sion of architecture rather late in life,Leon Battista Alberti
(1404–1472) nevertheless made a remarkable contribution to archi-
tectural design. He was the first to study seriously the ancient Roman
architectural treatise of Vitruvius, and his knowledge of it, combined
with his own archaeological investigations, made him the first Renais-
sance architect to understand classical architecture in depth. Alberti’s
most influential theoretical work,On the Art of Building (written
about 1450, published 1486), although inspired by Vitruvius, contains
much original material. Alberti advocated a system of ideal propor-
tions and believed that the central plan was the ideal form for a Chris-
tian church. He also considered incongruous the combination of
column and arch, which had persisted since Roman times and
throughout the Middle Ages. He argued that the arch is a wall opening
that should be supported only by a section of wall (a pier), not by an
independent sculptural element (a column) as in Brunelleschi’s and
Michelozzo’s buildings (FIGS. 21-31, 21-33,and 21-37).
PALAZZO RUCELLAI Alberti’s own architectural style repre-
sents a scholarly application of classical elements to contemporary
buildings. He designed the Palazzo Rucellai (FIG. 21-38) in Flor-