LES STRATES D'UN PALIMPSESTE – ENTRE LEON BATTISTA ALBERTI ET L'ARCHITECTURE VENITIENNE DE LA PREMIERE RENAISSANCE

The article confronts the theoretical concepts of Leon Battista Alberti with the Venetian architecture of the second half of the 15th century on the example of three buildings associated with the person of Pietro Lombardo, a sculptor and architect: the Church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli, Scuola Grande di San Marco, and the Palazzo Dario. Alberti's ties with Venice, together with the role of Cyriacus of Ancona as an intermediary in the reception of the De Re Aedificatoria amongst Venetian patrons of the arts, allow us to interpret these buildings in the theoretical categories presented in the treatise. This has made it possible to determine both how an architectural detail was understood at that time (decorative character, penchant for precious materials, elements of Byzantine and Arabic ornamentation) and the specificity of the taste of commissioning people. This could be related to the different visual perception of the Venetians, conditioned on the richness of merchant culture, their contacts with the Arab world and centuries-old Byzantine traditions. To visualise these differences and their manifestation in the statements and terminology the author compares a comparative analysis of, among other things, Tempio Malatestiano at Rimini and the façade of Santa Maria Novella and Palazzo Rucellai in Florence. The analysis leads to the conclusion that the category of Albertine beauty was realized in the most fully way probably in Venice of the 15th century.