6[Figure 6]THE
ARCHITECTURE
OF
Leone Batiſta Alberti.
ARCHITECTURE
OF
Leone Batiſta Alberti.
BOOK I. CHAP. I.
Of Deſigns; their Value and Rules.
Being to treat of the
Deſigns of Edifices, we
ſhall collect and tran
ſcribe into this our Work,
all the moſt curious and
uſeſul Obſervations left
us by the Ancients, and
which they gathered in
the actual Execution of
theſe Works; and to theſe we ſhall join what
ever we ourſelves may have diſcovered by our
Study, Application and Labour, that ſeems like
ly to be of Uſe. But as we deſire, in the hand
ling this difficult, knotty, and commonly ob
ſcure Subject, to be as clear and intelligible as
poſſible; we ſhall, according to our Cuſtom,
explain what the Nature of our Subject is;
which will ſhew the Origin of the important
Matters that we are to write of, at their very
Fountain-Head, and enable us to expreſs the
Things that follow, in a more eaſy and per
ſpicuous Style. We ſhall therefore firſt lay
down, that the whole Art of Building conſiſts
in the Deſign, and in the Structure. The
whole Force and Rule of the Deſign, conſiſts
in a right and exact adapting and joining to
gether the Lines and Angles which compoſe
and form the Face of the Building. It is the
Property and Buſineſs of the Deſign to appoint
to the Edifice and all its Parts their proper
Places, determinate Number, juſt Proportion
and beautiful Order; ſo that the whole Form
of the Structure be proportionable. Nor has
this Deſign any thing that makes it in its Na
ture inſeparable from Matter; for we ſee that
the ſame Deſign is in a Multitude of Buildings,
which have all the ſame Form, and are exact
ly alike as to the Situation of their Parts and
the Diſpoſition of their Lines and Angles; and
we can in our Thought and Imagination con
trive perfect Forms of Buildings entirely ſepa
rate from Matter, by ſettling and regulating in
a certain Order, the Diſpoſition and Conjunc
tion of the Lines and Angles. Which being
Deſigns of Edifices, we
ſhall collect and tran
ſcribe into this our Work,
all the moſt curious and
uſeſul Obſervations left
us by the Ancients, and
which they gathered in
the actual Execution of
theſe Works; and to theſe we ſhall join what
ever we ourſelves may have diſcovered by our
Study, Application and Labour, that ſeems like
ly to be of Uſe. But as we deſire, in the hand
ling this difficult, knotty, and commonly ob
ſcure Subject, to be as clear and intelligible as
poſſible; we ſhall, according to our Cuſtom,
explain what the Nature of our Subject is;
which will ſhew the Origin of the important
Matters that we are to write of, at their very
Fountain-Head, and enable us to expreſs the
Things that follow, in a more eaſy and per
ſpicuous Style. We ſhall therefore firſt lay
down, that the whole Art of Building conſiſts
in the Deſign, and in the Structure. The
whole Force and Rule of the Deſign, conſiſts
in a right and exact adapting and joining to
gether the Lines and Angles which compoſe
and form the Face of the Building. It is the
Property and Buſineſs of the Deſign to appoint
to the Edifice and all its Parts their proper
Places, determinate Number, juſt Proportion
and beautiful Order; ſo that the whole Form
of the Structure be proportionable. Nor has
this Deſign any thing that makes it in its Na
ture inſeparable from Matter; for we ſee that
the ſame Deſign is in a Multitude of Buildings,
which have all the ſame Form, and are exact
ly alike as to the Situation of their Parts and
the Diſpoſition of their Lines and Angles; and
we can in our Thought and Imagination con
trive perfect Forms of Buildings entirely ſepa
rate from Matter, by ſettling and regulating in
a certain Order, the Diſpoſition and Conjunc
tion of the Lines and Angles. Which being
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