The Ruin, Design and Materials in Leon Battista Alberti’s De re ædificatoria

Abstract

In the ten books that conform Leon Battista Alberti’s treatise on architecture De re aedificatoria, the ruin expresses a model and a moral: it is the last stronghold harboring the traces of a lost wisdom and the ineludible consequence of a time that devours all, in tune with the violence of history. This dual teaching lets Alberti incorporate certain principles of stability into his treatise. In an attempt to understand those principles, this article sets out to analyze the concepts of lineamenta (design) andmateria (materials) that the Genoese humanist develops in the first two books of his treatise, and situates them within the framework of a history built, destroyed and once again rebuilt.