The multifaceted activity of Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472) is a vivid example of the universality of the interests of a Renaissance man. Versatile gifted and educated, he made a major contribution to the theory of art and architecture, literature and architecture, was fond of ethics and pedagogy, studied mathematics and cartography.
Leon Battista belonged to the influential merchant family Alberti, expelled from Florence by political opponents. After completing his law degree at the University of Bologna, he received a position as secretary in the Roman Curia, where he served for thirty years. Alberti's architectural practice began in the 1940s; he created in the new, Renaissance style designs for temples in Rimini and Mantua, Rucellai Palace in Florence.
In the same years, he developed his artistic theory in the treatises "On Architecture", "On Painting", "On Sculpture". These works glorified his name far beyond the borders of Italy. The central place in Alberti's aesthetics belongs to the doctrine of harmony as an important natural pattern, which a person must not only take into account in all his activities, but also extend his own creativity to different areas of his being.
The problems of earthly human life are devoted to the literary works of Alberti the humanist - the moral and didactic dialogues "On the Family", "On the Peace of Mind", "Domostroy", fables and allegories of the "Table Talk" cycle, as well as the essay "Mom, or about the sovereign". An outstanding thinker and talented writer, Alberti created a consistently humanistic doctrine of man, opposed by its secularism to official orthodoxy.
The ideal person, according to Alberti, harmoniously combines the forces of mind and will, creative activity and peace of mind. He is wise, guided in his actions by the principles of measure, has a consciousness of his dignity. All this gives the image created by Alberti, features of grandeur. The ideal of a harmonious personality put forward by him had an impact both on the development of humanistic ethics and on Renaissance art, including in the portrait genre.
This type of person is embodied in the images of painting, graphics and sculpture in Italy of that time, in the masterpieces of Antonello da Messina, Piero della Francesca, Andrea Mantegna and other great masters. Alberti wrote many of his works in Volgar, which greatly contributed to the wide dissemination of his ideas in Italian society, including among artists.
The initial premise of Albert's humanistic concept is the inalienable belonging of man to the world of nature, which the humanist interprets from pantheistic positions as the bearer of the divine principle. A person, included in the world order, is in the power of its laws - harmony and perfection.
The harmony of man and nature is determined by his ability to cognize the world, to a reasonable, striving for good existence. The responsibility for moral improvement, which has both personal and social significance, Alberta lays on the people themselves. The choice between good and evil depends on the free will of man.
The humanist saw the main purpose of the individual in creativity, which he understood widely - from the work of a modest artisan to the heights of scientific and artistic activity. Alberta especially appreciated the work of an architect - the organizer of people's lives, the creator of reasonable and beautiful conditions for their existence. In the creative ability of man, the humanist saw his main difference from the animal world.
Work for Albert is not a punishment for original sin, as church morality taught, but a source of spiritual uplift, material wealth and glory. “In idleness, people become weak and insignificant,” moreover, only life practice itself reveals the great possibilities inherent in a person.
“The art of living is comprehended in deeds,” Alberti emphasized. The ideal of an active life makes his ethics related to civil humanism, but there are also many features in it that make it possible to characterize Albert's teaching as an independent trend in humanism.
An important role in the upbringing of a person who energetically increases his own benefits and the benefits of society and the state through honest work, Alberta assigned to the family. In it, he saw the basic cell of the entire system of social order. The humanist paid much attention to family foundations, especially in the dialogues “About the Family” and “Domostroy” written in Volgar.
In them, he addresses the problems of upbringing and primary education of the younger generation, solving them from a humanistic position. It defines the principle of the relationship between parents and children, bearing in mind the main goal - strengthening the family, its inner harmony.
In the economic practice of Alberti's time, family commercial, industrial and financial companies played an important role, in this regard, the humanist also considers the family as the basis of economic activity. He associated the path to the well-being and wealth of the family with reasonable housekeeping, with hoarding based on the principles of thrift, diligent care of business, hard work.
Alberti considered unfair methods of enrichment unacceptable (partly at odds with merchant practice and mentality), because they deprive the family of a good reputation. The humanist advocated such relations between the individual and society, in which personal interest is consistent with the interests of other people. However, in contrast to the ethics of civil humanism, Alberti believed it possible in certain circumstances to put the interests of the family above momentary public good.
He, for example, recognized as acceptable the refusal of public service for the sake of concentrating on economic work, since in the end, as the humanist believed, the well-being of the state is based on the solid material foundations of individual families.
Alberti society itself thinks as a harmonious unity of all its layers, which should be facilitated by the activities of the rulers. Thinking over the conditions for achieving social harmony, Alberti in his treatise "On Architecture" draws an ideal city, beautiful in terms of rational planning and appearance of the back, streets, squares.
The entire living environment of a person is arranged here in such a way that it meets the needs of the individual, family, and society as a whole. The city is divided into different spatial zones: in the center are the buildings of the highest magistracies and the palaces of the rulers, on the outskirts - quarters of artisans and small merchants. The palaces of the upper stratum of society are thus spatially separated from the dwellings of the poor.
This urban planning principle, according to Alberti, should prevent the harmful consequences of possible popular unrest. The ideal city of Alberti is characterized, however, by the equal improvement of all its parts for the life of people of different social status and the accessibility of all its inhabitants to beautiful public buildings - schools, thermal baths, theaters.
The embodiment of ideas about the ideal city in a word or image was one of the typical features of the Italian Renaissance culture. The architect Filarete, the scientist and artist Leonardo da Vinci, the authors of social utopias of the 16th century paid tribute to the projects of such cities. They reflected the dream of humanists about the harmony of human society, about the excellent external conditions that contribute to its stability and the happiness of every person.
Like many humanists, Alberti shared ideas about the possibility of ensuring social peace through the moral improvement of each person, the development of his active virtue and creativity. At the same time, being a thoughtful analyst of life practice and human psychology, he saw the “kingdom of man” in all the complexity of its contradictions: by refusing to be guided by reason and knowledge, people sometimes become destroyers rather than creators of harmony in the earthly world.
Alberti's doubts found vivid expression in his "Mome" and "Table Talk", but did not become decisive for the main line of his reflections. The ironic perception of the reality of human deeds, characteristic of these works, did not shake the deep faith of the humanist in the creative power of man, called to equip the world according to the laws of reason and beauty. Many of Alberti's ideas were further developed in the work of Leonardo da Vinci.
The name Alberti is rightfully called one of the first among the great creators of the culture of the Italian Renaissance. His theoretical writings, his artistic practice, his ideas, and, finally, his very personality as a humanist played an exceptionally important role in the formation and development of the art of the early Renaissance.
“A person had to appear,” wrote Leonardo Olshki, “who, having a theory and a vocation for art and practice, would put the aspirations of his time on a solid foundation and give them a certain direction in which they were to develop in the future. By this multilateral, but at the same time Leon Battista Alberti was the harmonic mind."
Leon Battista Alberti was born on February 18, 1404 in Genoa. His father, Leonardo Alberti, whose illegitimate son was Leon, belonged to one of the influential merchant families of Florence, expelled from their hometown by political opponents.
Leon Battista received his initial education in Padua, at the school of the famous humanist teacher Gasparino da Barzizza, and after the death of his father in 1421, he left for Bologna, where he studied canon law at the university and attended lectures by Francesco Filelfo on Greek language and literature. Upon graduation from the university in 1428, he was awarded the title of Doctor of Canon Law.
Although in Bologna Alberti fell into a brilliant circle of writers who gathered in the house of Cardinal Albergati, these university years were difficult and unfortunate for him: the death of his father sharply undermined his material well-being, litigation with relatives over an inheritance illegally torn away by them deprived him of peace, his health was undermined by over-exertion.
The beginning of Alberti's hobbies in mathematics and philosophy is connected with his student years. In the early works of Alberti ("Philodoxus", "On the Advantages and Disadvantages of Science", "Table Talk") of the Bologna period, one feels anxiety and anxiety, the consciousness of the inevitability of a blind fate. Contact with Florentine culture, after being allowed to return to their homeland, contributed to the elimination of these sentiments.
During a trip in the retinue of Cardinal Albergati through France, the Netherlands and Germany in 1431, Alberti received a lot of architectural impressions. The subsequent years of his stay in Rome (1432-1434) were the beginning of his many years of studies of the monuments of ancient architecture. Then Alberti began to study cartography and the theory of painting, while working on the essay "On the Family", dedicated to the problems of morality.
In 1432, under the patronage of influential patrons from the higher clergy, Alberti received a position in the papal office, where he served for more than thirty years.
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Alberti's industriousness was truly immeasurable. He believed that a person, like a sea ship, must pass through vast spaces and "strive to work to earn praise and the fruits of glory." As a writer, he was equally interested in the foundations of society, and family life, and the problems of the human personality, and ethical issues. He was engaged not only in literature, but also in science, painting, sculpture and music.
His "Mathematical Fun", as well as the treatises "On Painting", "On the Statue", testify to the thorough knowledge of their author in the field of mathematics, optics, and mechanics. He monitors the humidity of the air, which is why the hygrometer is born.
Thinking about creating a geodetic instrument to measure the height of buildings and the depth of rivers and to facilitate the leveling of cities. Alberti designs lifting mechanisms to retrieve sunken Roman ships from the bottom of the lake. Such secondary things as the cultivation of valuable breeds of horses, the secrets of the women's toilet, the code of cipher papers, the form of writing letters do not escape his attention.
The diversity of his interests so impressed his contemporaries that one of them wrote in the margins of the Albertian manuscript: "Tell me, what did this man not know?", and Poliziano, mentioning Alberti, preferred "to remain silent rather than say too little about him."
If we try to give a general description of the entire work of Alberti, then the most obvious will be the desire for innovation, organically combined with a thoughtful penetration into ancient thought.
In 1434-1445, in the retinue of Pope Eugene IV, Alberti visited Florence, Ferrara, Bologna. During a long stay in Florence, he struck up friendly relations with the founders of Renaissance art - Brunelleschi, Donatello, Ghiberti. Here he wrote his treatises on sculpture and painting, as well as his best humanistic writings in Italian - "On the Family", "On Peace of Mind", which made him a universally recognized theorist and leading figure of the new artistic movement.
Repeated trips to the cities of Northern Italy also contributed a lot to the awakening of his keen interest in a variety of artistic activities. Returning to Rome, Alberti resumed his studies of ancient architecture with new energy and in 1444 began compiling the treatise Ten Books on Architecture.
By 1450, the treatise was completed in rough draft and two years later, in a more corrected edition - the one that is known today - was given for reading to Pope Nicholas V. Alberti, further absorbed in his projects and buildings, left his essay not completely finished and more to did not return to him.
Alberti's first architectural experiments are usually associated with his two stays in Ferrara, in 1438 and 1443. Being on friendly terms with Lionello d'Este, who became the Marquis of Ferrara in 1441, Alberti advised the construction of an equestrian monument to his father, Niccolò III.
After the death of Brunelleschi in 1446 in Florence, there was not a single architect equal to him in importance among his followers. Thus, at the turn of the century, Alberti found himself in the role of the leading architect of the era. Only now did he get real opportunities to put his architectural theories into practice.
All Alberti buildings in Florence are marked by one remarkable feature. The principles of the classical order, extracted by the master from ancient Roman architecture, are applied by him with great tact to the traditions of Tuscan architecture. New and old, forming a living unity, gives these buildings a unique "Florentine" style, very different from the one in which his buildings were made in Northern Italy.
Alberti's first work in his native city was the design of a palace for Giovanni Rucellai, which was built between 1446 and 1451 by Bernardo Rossellino. Palazzo Rucellai is very different from all the buildings in the city. On the traditional scheme of the three-story facade, Alberti, as it were, “imposes” a grid of classical orders.
Instead of a massive wall formed by a rusticated masonry of stone blocks, the powerful relief of which is gradually smoothed out as we move upwards, we have before us a smooth plane, rhythmically dissected by pilasters and ribbons of entablature, clearly outlined in its proportions and completed by a significantly extended cornice.
The small square windows of the ground floor, raised high from the ground, the columns separating the windows of the two upper floors, the fractional run of the cornice modulons greatly enrich the overall rhythm of the facade. In the architecture of the city house, traces of the former isolation and the "serf" character that was inherent in all other palaces in Florence of that time disappear. It is no coincidence that Filarete, mentioning the building of Alberti in his treatise, noted that in it "the entire facade ... was made in the antique manner."
The second most important building of Alberti in Florence was also associated with the order of Rucellai. One of the richest people in the city, he, according to Vasari, "wanted to make at his own expense and entirely of marble the facade of the church of the Church of Santa Maria Novella", entrusting the project to Alberti. Work on the facade of the church, which began in the 14th century, was not completed. Alberti had to continue what the Gothic masters had begun.
This made his task more difficult, because, without destroying what had been done, he was forced to include elements of the old decoration in his project - narrow side doors with lancet tympanums, lancet arches of external niches, a breakdown of the lower part of the facade with thin lizens with arches in the proto-Renaissance style, a large round window in top part. Its facade, which was built between 1456 and 1470 by the master Giovanni da Bertino, was a kind of classical paraphrase of examples of the proto-Renaissance style.
By order of his patron, Alberti performed other work. In the church of San Pancrazio, adjacent to the back side of the Palazzo Rucellai, in 1467, according to the design of the master, a family chapel was built. Decorated with pilasters and geometric inlay with rosettes of various designs, it is stylistically close to the previous building.
Despite the fact that the buildings created in Florence according to Alberti's designs were closely related in style to the traditions of Florentine architecture, they had only an indirect influence on its development in the second half of the 15th century. In a different way, Alberti's work developed in Northern Italy. And although his buildings were created there simultaneously with the Florentine ones, they characterize a more significant, more mature and more classical stage in his work. In them, Alberti more freely and boldly tried to implement his program of "revival" of ancient Roman architecture.
The first such attempt was associated with the rebuilding of the Church of San Francesco in Rimini. The tyrant of Rimini, the famous Sigismondo Malatesta, came up with the idea to make this ancient church a family temple-mausoleum. By the end of the 1440s, memorial chapels for Sigismondo and his wife Isotta were completed inside the church. Apparently, at the same time, Alberti was involved in the work. Around 1450, a wooden model was made according to his project, and later he very closely followed from Rome the progress of construction, which was led by a local master, miniaturist and medalist Matgeo de "Pasti.
Judging by the medal of Matteo de "Pasti, dated the jubilee year 1450, which depicted a new temple, Alberti's project involved a radical restructuring of the church. First of all, it was planned to make new facades on three sides, and then build a new vault and choir, covered with a large dome.
Alberti had at his disposal a very ordinary provincial church - squat, with lancet windows and wide lancet arches of the chapels, with a simple rafter roof over the main nave. He planned to turn it into a majestic memorial temple, able to compete with the ancient sanctuaries.
The monumental facade in the form of a two-tiered triumphal arch had very little in common with the usual appearance of Italian churches. The spacious domed rotunda, which opened to the visitor in the depths of the vaulted hall, evoked memories of the buildings of ancient Rome.
Unfortunately, Alberti's plan was only partially realized. Construction has been delayed. The main facade of the temple remained unfinished, and what was done in it did not exactly correspond to the original project.
Simultaneously with the construction of the "Temple of Malatesta" in Rimini, a church was erected in Mantua according to Alberti's designs. The Marquis of Mantua, Lodovico Gonzaga, patronized humanists and artists. When in 1459 Alberti appeared in Mantua in the retinue of Pope Pius II, he received a very warm welcome from Gonzaga and maintained friendly relations with him until the end of his life.
At the same time, Gonzaga instructed Alberti to draw up a project for the church of San Sebastiano. Remaining in Mantua after the departure of the pope, Alberti in 1460 completed the model of a new church, the construction of which was entrusted to the Florentine architect Luca Fancelli, who was at the Mantua court. At least twice more, in 1463 and 1470, Alberti came to Mantua to follow the progress of the work, and corresponded on this matter with the Marquis and Fancelli:
The new Alberti church was a centric building. Cruciform in plan, it was supposed to be covered by a large dome. Three short protruding stands ended in semicircular apses. And from the fourth side, a wide two-story narthex vestibule adjoined the church, forming a facade facing the street.
Where the narthex connected with its back wall to a narrower entrance platform, on both sides of it, filling the free space, two bell towers should have risen. The building is raised high above ground level. It was erected on the ground floor, which was a vast crypt under the entire temple with a separate entrance to it.
The facade of San Sebastiano was conceived by Alberti as an exact likeness of the main portico of the ancient Roman temple-peripter. A high staircase led to the five entrances to the vestibule, the steps of which extended the entire width of the facade, completely hiding the passages to the crypt.
His idea of decorating a wall with large-order pilasters reconciles the doctrine of classical architecture, for which he so advocated in his treatise, with the practical needs of the architecture of his time.
The architecture of the Italian Renaissance has never known such a constructive and decorative solution for the internal space of the church. In this regard, Bramante became the true heir and successor of Alberti. Moreover, Alberti's building was a model for all subsequent church architecture of the late Renaissance and Baroque.
According to its type, the Venetian churches of Palladio, "Il Gesu" Vignola and many other churches of the Roman Baroque were built. But Alberti's innovation turned out to be especially important for the architecture of the High Renaissance and Baroque - the use of a large order in the decoration of the facade and interior.
In 1464, Alberti left the service in the curia, but continued to live in Rome. Among his last works is a treatise of 1465 on the principles of the compilation of codes, and an essay of 1470 on moral topics. Leon Battista Alberti died on April 25, 1472 in Rome.
Alberti's last project was realized in Mantua, after his death, in 1478-1480. This is the Chapel del Incoronata of the Mantua Cathedral. The architectonic clarity of the spatial structure, the excellent proportions of the arches that easily carry the dome and vaults, the rectangular portals of the doors - all betray the classicizing style of the late Alberti.
Alberti stood at the center of the cultural life of Italy. Among his friends were the greatest humanists and artists (Brunelleschi, Donatello and Luca della Robbia), scientists (Toscanelli), the powers that be (Pope Nicholas V, Piero and Lorenzo Medici, Giovanni Francesco and Lodovico Gonzaga, Sigismondo Malatesta, Lionello d "Este, Federigo de Montefeltro).
And at the same time, he did not shy away from the barber Burchiello, with whom he exchanged sonnets, he willingly sat up late in the evening in the workshops of blacksmiths, architects, shipbuilders, shoemakers, to find out from them the secrets of their art.
Alberti far surpassed his contemporaries in talent, inquisitiveness, versatility, and a special vivacity of mind. He happily combined a subtle aesthetic sense and the ability to think rationally and logically, while relying on experience gained from communicating with people, nature, art, science, and classical literature. Sickly from birth, he managed to make himself healthy and strong. Due to failures in life, prone to pessimism and loneliness, he gradually came to accept life in all its manifestations.
Leon Battista Alberti (Italian: Leone Battista Alberti; February 14, 1404, Genoa - April 25, 1472, Rome) was an Italian scientist, humanist, writer, one of the founders of new European architecture and a leading art theorist of the Renaissance.
Alberti was the first to coherently outline the mathematical foundations of the theory of perspective. He also made a significant contribution to the development of cryptography, proposing the idea of a polyalphabetic cipher in the 1466 book Treatise on Ciphers.
“A man had to appear,” wrote Leonardo Olshki, “who, having a theory and a vocation for art and practice, would put the aspirations of his time on a solid foundation and give them a certain direction in which they were to develop in the future. This versatile yet harmonious mind was Leon Battista Alberti.”
Leon Battista Alberti was born in Genoa on February 18, 1404. The education he received first in Padua and then in Bologna was based on the ideas of humanism. Already at the age of twenty-four, Leon Battista Alberti received the title of Doctor of Cononic Law.
Leon Battista Alberti - a man whose work influenced the entire era. In his student years, the artist was fond of languages, mathematics, and philosophy. Already in these years, his writings appear, in which he speaks of fate and its influence on human life. At the same time, Leon Battista Alberti was filled with anxious, restless moods. Florentine culture and acquaintance with the architecture of different countries during trips abroad helped him to look at the world differently.
In the early 30s, Alberti began to study the theory of painting. He summarized the knowledge gained in his theoretical works on painting. Having a habit of putting theory into practice, the Italian artist tried to paint, but in our time only a few of his works are known.
The further creative and life path of the Italian humanist is connected with Italy and Florence. It is in these cities that the most famous buildings of this outstanding architect appear, new treatises appear that are dedicated to man and society.
During the same period, Leon Battista Alberti wrote many literary works. He writes in various genres, from the classical forms of which he very often departs. He creates all his works in Italian, thereby promoting it, and attaching great importance to it. There are suggestions that the author of the first Italian grammar textbook is Leon Battista Alberti.
Leon Battista Alberti - a man whose activities influenced the entire era Since the 40s, Alberti has been focusing all his attention on mathematics and architecture. By this time, the personality of this man had earned respect so much that Pope Nicholas V himself turned to him for advice when the project to rebuild Rome was carried out.
Leon Battista Alberti far surpassed his contemporaries in talent, inquisitiveness, versatility, and a special vivacity of mind. He happily combined a subtle aesthetic sense and the ability to think rationally and logically, while relying on experience gained from communicating with people, nature, art, science, and classical literature.
Leon Alberti belonged to the type of people who bring what they started to the end, and the work they undertake is done very well. If he took on a problem, a topic, then he studied it completely, without passing by even the most insignificant issues.
Thanks to this perseverance, he creates new devices. For example, in order to make it easier to observe the humidity of the air, Alberti invents a hygrometer; in an effort to get the remains of sunken ships from the bottom, he designs lifting mechanisms.
The Italian humanist was also interested in the ways of ciphering words, the cultivation of valuable breeds of horses, the forms of writing letters, and much more.
The diversity of his interests so impressed his contemporaries that one of them wrote in the margins of the Albertian manuscript: “Tell me, what did this man not know?”, And Poliziano, mentioning Leon Alberti, preferred “to remain silent rather than say too little about him.”
According to his designs, the Palazzo Rucellai in Florence (1446-1451) was built, the church of Santissima Annunziata, the facade of the church of Santa Maria Novella (1456-1470), the churches of San Francesco in Rimini, San Sebastiano and Sant'Andrea in Mantua were rebuilt - buildings that determined the main direction in Quattrocento architecture ...
Alberti was the first to coherently outline the mathematical foundations of the theory of perspective. He also made a significant contribution to the development of cryptography, proposing the idea of a polyalphabetic cipher in the 1466 book “Treatise on Ciphers” ...
Alberti wrote his first works in the 1920s. - comedies "Philodox" (1425), "Deifira" (1428), etc. In the 30s - early 40s. created a number of works in Latin - "On the Advantages and Disadvantages of Scientists" (1430), "On Law" (1437), "Pontifex" (1437); dialogues in Volgar on ethical topics - “On the Family” (1434-1441), “On the Peace of Mind” (1443).
In the 50-60s. Alberti wrote the satirical-allegorical cycle "Table Talks" - his main works in the field of literature, which became examples of Latin humanistic prose of the 15th century ...
“...Nature, i.e. God, put into man a heavenly and divine element, incomparably more beautiful and noble than anything mortal. She gave him talent, learning ability, intelligence - divine properties, thanks to which he can explore, distinguish and know what he must avoid and follow in order to preserve himself. In addition to these great and priceless gifts, God has placed in the human soul moderation, restraint against passions and excessive desires, as well as shame, modesty and the desire to deserve praise. In addition, God implanted in people the need for a firm mutual connection that supports community life, justice, justice, generosity and love, and with all this a person can earn gratitude and praise from people, and favor and mercy from his creator.
» the idea of a polyalphabetic cipher.
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Translator: Yulia Kallistratova Editor: Alena Sidorova Imagine that you are walking through a forest. I think you think of a lot of trees, which we foresters call a stand, with overgrown trunks and beautiful crowns. Trees, of course, are the basis of the forest, but the forest is much more complicated than it seems at first glance, and today I would like to change your idea of \u200b\u200bforests. There is another world underground, a world of endless biological pathways that connect trees and allow them to communicate with each other. And allow the forest to behave as a single organism. To some extent, it resembles the mind. How do I know this? I'll tell you my story. I grew up in the forests of British Columbia. I liked to lie on the ground and look at the tops of the trees for a long time. They were giants. My grandfather was also a giant. He was a lumberjack and worked on a horse. He selectively felled cedars in the mainland rainforests. Grandfather told me about the silent, connected paths of the trees, and how they intertwine with our family history. I followed in my grandfather's footsteps. We were both interested in the forest, and the first insight came to me in a toilet near our lake. Our poor dog Jiggs slipped and fell into the cesspool. Grandfather took a shovel and rushed off to save the poor dog. He was swimming down there in the slurry. While my grandfather was digging a path through the soil, I became interested not only in the roots of the trees, but also what lies under them - later I learned that this is mycelium - and below it, red and yellow, soil horizons. In the end, we saved the poor dog, but it was at that moment that I realized that the palette of roots and soil is the very basis of the forest. I wanted to know more. So I studied forestry. Soon I began to work side by side with influential people in charge of commercial harvesting. The amount of deforestation was daunting, and I soon felt conflicted about my part in it. In addition, the scale of felling poplars and birches for the sake of planting more valuable pines and firs was colossal. It seemed that nothing could stop this merciless industrial mechanism. So I returned to learning and began to explore the unusual world. Then scientists only found out in the laboratory that the roots of one pine seedling can transfer carbon to the roots of another seedling. But it was in the laboratory, and I wondered if it was possible in the forest? I thought so. Trees in real forests may also exchange information underground. But it was a controversial issue, some even thought I was crazy. Therefore, it was very difficult to obtain funding for the study. But I stood my ground, and was finally able to conduct some experiments deep in the forest. It was 25 years ago. I grew 80 trees of three types: Japanese birch, Douglas fir and thuja. I found that birch and fir are connected in an underground network, but thuja is not. She grew up in her own world. I started collecting equipment. I didn't have any money, so I had to make do with the cheapest. I went to the DIY store... (Laughter) and bought plastic bags, duct tape, shading net, timer, hazmat suit and respirator. Then I borrowed some equipment from my university: Geiger counter, scintillation counter, mass spectrometer and microscopes. In addition, there were dangerous substances: syringes with radioactive carbon-14 and several pressurized containers with a stable isotope, carbon-13. But I had official permission. (Laughter) Oh, I forgot one more thing. Very important: bug spray, bear repellent spray, and respirator filters. Here you go. On the first day of the experiment, we had already begun work, but a grizzly and her baby appeared, who frightened us away. I didn't have bear spray with me. This is how research is done in the Canadian forest. (Laughter) I came back the next day. The grizzly mother and her cub were gone. This time we finally got started. I put on a white hazmat suit and a respirator, then put bags on my trees, took huge syringes and injected carbon dioxide with an isotope tracer into the bag. The first one was birch. I injected carbon-14, a radioactive isotope, into a birch bag. Then there was fir, I introduced a stable isotope, carbon-13. I used two isotopes to see if these types of trees communicate with each other. When I started on the last package, the 80th seedling, out of nowhere, the mother grizzly appeared again. She chased after me, I raised my hands with syringes, brushing off mosquitoes, jumped into the truck and thought: “This is why research is done in laboratories.” (Laughter) I've been waiting an hour. I calculated that this would be enough for the trees to photosynthesize all the gas, turn it into sugars, transport them to their roots, and perhaps, as I assumed, transfer the carbon underground to their neighbors. As the hour drew to a close, I rolled down the window and checked for the grizzly mom. It's good, there she is, eating blueberries. I got out of the truck and continued to work. I removed the first package from the birch and brought the Geiger counter to the leaves. Khkh! Amazing. The birch has absorbed the radioactive gas. And here is the moment of truth. I went to the fir. She took off her package. I brought the Geiger counter to the needles and heard the most wonderful sound. Khkh! This birch communicated with fir, the birch asked: “Hey, can I help you?” And the fir said, “Yeah, can you send me some carbon? Because someone put a canopy over me.” I went up to the thuja, brought the device to its leaves, and, as I suspected, there was silence. Tuya was on her own. She was not tied with a net to birch and fir. I was so excited, I ran from one seedling to another, checking each of the 80 trees. Everything was obvious. Carbon-13 and carbon-14 showed me that Japanese birch and Douglas fir had nice interactions with each other. It turned out that at this time of the year, in summer, birch transfers more carbon to fir than fir to birch, especially when the fir was in the shade. But in subsequent experiments, I found the opposite. The fir sent more carbon to the birch, and not vice versa, because the fir was still growing, and the birch had already shed its leaves. It turned out that the two species were interdependent like yin and yang. At that moment, everything fell into place. I realized that I had found something amazing, something that would change the way we look at the behavior of trees in the forest. Not only as rivals, but also as employees. And I found weighty evidence of the existence of a huge underground network of communication, another world. I really hoped and believed that my discovery would change the way we look at forestry. Instead of cutting down and using herbicides, it will allow the use of more complex and environmentally friendly methods that are cheaper and more practical. What was I even thinking? I'll get back to this. How does science work in such a complex system as a forest? Forest researchers have to conduct research in the forest, and this is very difficult, as I described. And you need to be able to quickly run away from bears. But the main thing is that we must continue, no matter what the difficulties. You need to trust your intuition and rely on experience, ask the right questions. Then collect data and check carefully. I have published hundreds of experiments done in the forest. The oldest of my experimental plantations is over 30 years old. You can take a look at them sometime. See how science works in the forest. Now I want to talk about this science. How do Japanese birch and Douglas fir communicate? It turned out that they communicate not only through carbon, but also through nitrogen, phosphorus, water and protective signals, allelochemical substances and hormones - in short, information. And you know, I have to say that before me, scientists thought that an underground mutually beneficial symbiosis called mycorrhiza also had something to do with it. Mycorrhiza literally means "mushroom roots". You can see her reproductive organs while walking in the forest. These are mushrooms. But mushrooms are just the tip of the iceberg. The threads emerging from the fruiting body of the fungus are called mycelium. It infects and begins to control the roots of all trees and plants. And in places of contact between root cells and fungal cells, carbon and nutrients are exchanged. Mycelium receives these substances, germinating through the soil, enveloping every particle of it. This network is so dense that it can reach hundreds of kilometers in length, even in an area the size of a foot. Mycelium connects individual plants of the forest. Plants are not only one species, but also different, for example, birch and fir. It's all like the Internet. Like all networks, mycorrhizal networks have their nodes and connections. We mapped them by analyzing small sections of the DNA of each tree and each fungus in a separate patch of fir forest. In this diagram, the circles are the firs, or knots, and the lines are the connecting highways of the mycelium, or connections. The largest and darkest nodes are the busiest. We call them center trees or, more affectionately, mother trees because they happen to feed the young trees that grow in the undergrowth. And if you see yellow dots, these are shoots that have appeared inside the network of old mother trees. In one forest, a mother tree can be connected to hundreds of other trees. And with the help of isotope tracer, we learned that they send their excess carbon through the mycorrhiza network to the young trees of the undergrowth. And we attributed this to the survival rate of seedlings, which increased by 4 times. We, as you know, always support our children. And I wondered if a fir can recognize its own, like a grizzly mother of her baby? Therefore, we conducted an experiment, growing mother trees along with daughter and unfamiliar seedlings. It turned out that they can recognize their relatives. Mother trees create a wider mycorrhizal network for their children, transport more carbon to them, and even reduce the growth of their root system to make room for their children. When the mother tree is damaged or dies, it shares its knowledge with the next generations. We used an isotope tracer to record the movement of carbon from a wounded tree down the trunk into the mycorrhizal network and to our seedlings. But not only carbon, but also protective signals. And these two components increase the resistance of seedlings to future stresses. The trees are talking. (Applause) Thank you. Through bilateral dialogue, resilience grows throughout the community. Perhaps it will remind you of our social circles, our families, or at least some families. (Laughter) But let's go back to the beginning. A forest is not just a collection of trees, it is a complex system with nodes and networks that brings trees together and allows them to communicate, provide an opportunity to respond and adapt. This makes the forest sustainable. The reason is the number of node trees and the many intertwining networks. But forests are vulnerable. And not only for natural hazards such as bark beetles, which usually destroy large old trees, but also for cutting high-quality species, as well as complete felling. You can cut down one or two tree nodes, but this is a critical point. These trees are not much different from rivets in an airplane. You can remove a few, but the plane will still fly, but if you pull out one more or the one that holds the wing, and everything falls apart. What do you think now about the forest? Otherwise? (audience) Yes. Cool. (Laughter) I'm glad. Remember I talked earlier about my hope that my research and my discoveries would change the way we do forestry? I want to see what has happened here in Western Canada in the last 30 years. This place is located 100 km west of us, very close to the border of Banff National Park. The mass of cut areas. Not untouched nature at all. In 2014, the World Resources Institute reported that over the past decade, Canada has had the highest level of forest damage than any other country. I bet you thought it was Brazil. In Canada, this level reaches 3.6 percent per year. According to my calculations, this is four times more than allowed. This amount of damage to the forest affects the water cycle, reduces wildlife populations and releases greenhouse gases back into the atmosphere, leading to even more damage and the death of trees. In addition, people continue to plant only a few types of trees, getting rid of poplars and birches. In this way, forests are deprived of a complex system, becoming vulnerable to infections and insects. And climate change brings with it ideal conditions for extreme situations, such as a bark beetle outbreak that has spread across North America, or a huge fire in Alberta that has been raging in recent months. I want to turn to the last question. Instead of weakening forests, how can we strengthen them and help them cope with climate change? You know, the most amazing thing about forests as complex systems is their incredible ability to self-repair. In recent experiments with partial felling, retaining node trees, and recreating the diversity of species, genes and genotypes, we have found that these mycorrhizal networks regenerate very quickly. With this in mind, I want to offer four simple solutions. And we can't fool ourselves into saying it's too hard. First, we all need to go to the forest. We need to re-interest in our own forests. Now many of them use the same methods, but good forest management requires local knowledge. Secondly, it is necessary to preserve relic forests. They are custodians of genes, mother trees, and mycorrhizal networks. This means less cutting. I'm not talking about its termination, but only about the reduction. Thirdly, by cutting down trees, one must preserve the heritage, mother trees and networks, genes, so that they can pass on their wisdom to the next generation of trees, and they can withstand the future stresses that await them. It is necessary to rationally use forest resources. And finally, the fourth and final decision. We need to restore forests through biodiversity, genotypes and structures through planting and promoting natural regeneration. We need to give Mother Nature the tool she needs to use her knowledge to heal herself. And we must remember that the forest is not just a bunch of trees competing with each other, they are excellent employees. But back to Jigs. His fall introduced me to a new world and changed my attitude towards the forest. I hope that today your opinion about them has also changed. Thank you. (Applause)
Biography
Born in Genoa, he came from a noble Florentine family in exile in Genoa. He studied liberal arts in Padua and law in Bologna. In 1428 he graduated from the University of Bologna, after which he received the post of secretary from Cardinal Albergati, and in 1432 - a place in the papal office, where he served for more than thirty years. In 1462 Alberti retired from the curia and lived in Rome until his death.
Alberti's humanistic worldview
Harmony
The multifaceted activity of Leon Battista Alberti is a vivid example of the universality of the interests of a Renaissance man. Versatilely gifted and educated, he made a major contribution to the theory of art and architecture, to literature and architecture, was fond of the problems of ethics and pedagogy, studied mathematics and cartography. The central place in Alberti's aesthetics belongs to the doctrine of harmony as an important natural pattern, which a person must not only take into account in all his activities, but also extend his own creativity to different areas of his being. The outstanding thinker and talented writer Alberti created a consistently humanistic doctrine of man, opposed by its secularism to the official orthodoxy. Creation of oneself, physical perfection - become the goal, as well as the spiritual.
Human
The ideal person, according to Alberti, harmoniously combines the powers of the mind and will, creative activity and peace of mind. He is wise, guided in his actions by the principles of measure, has a consciousness of his dignity. All this gives the image created by Alberti, features of greatness. The ideal of a harmonious personality put forward by him had an impact both on the development of humanistic ethics and on Renaissance art, including in the portrait genre. It is this type of person that is embodied in the images of painting, graphics and sculpture in Italy of that time, in the masterpieces of Antonello da Messina, Piero della Francesca, Andrea Mantegna and other great masters. Alberti wrote many of his works in Volgar, which greatly contributed to the wide dissemination of his ideas in Italian society, including among artists.
| Nature, that is, God, has placed in man a heavenly and divine element, incomparably more beautiful and noble than anything mortal. She gave him talent, learning ability, intelligence - divine properties, thanks to which he can explore, distinguish and know what he must avoid and follow in order to preserve himself. In addition to these great and priceless gifts, God has placed in the human soul moderation, restraint against passions and excessive desires, as well as shame, modesty and the desire to deserve praise. In addition, God implanted in people the need for a firm mutual connection that supports community, justice, justice, generosity and love, and with all this a person can earn gratitude and praise from people, and from his creator - favor and mercy. God has placed in the human breast the ability to endure any work, any misfortune, any blow of fate, to overcome all sorts of difficulties, to overcome sorrow, not to be afraid of death. He gave man strength, steadfastness, firmness, strength, contempt for insignificant trifles ... Therefore, be convinced that a person is born not to drag out a sad existence in inaction, but to work on a great and grandiose deed. By this he can, firstly, please God and honor him, and, secondly, acquire for himself the most perfect virtues and complete happiness. (Leon Battista Alberti) |
Creativity and work
The initial premise of Alberti's humanistic concept is the inalienable belonging of man to the world of nature, which the humanist interprets from pantheistic positions as the bearer of the divine principle. A person, included in the world order, is in the power of its laws - harmony and perfection. The harmony of man and nature is determined by his ability to cognize the world, to a reasonable, striving for good existence. The responsibility for moral perfection, which has both personal and social significance, Alberti lays on the people themselves. The choice between good and evil depends on the free will of man. The humanist saw the main purpose of the individual in creativity, which he understood widely - from the work of a modest artisan to the heights of scientific and artistic activity. Alberti especially appreciated the work of an architect - the organizer of people's lives, the creator of reasonable and beautiful conditions for their existence. In the creative ability of man, the humanist saw his main difference from the animal world. Labor for Alberti is not a punishment for original sin, as church morality taught, but a source of spiritual uplift, material wealth and glory. " In idleness people become weak and worthless”, moreover, only life practice itself reveals the great possibilities inherent in a person. " The art of living is comprehended in deeds", - emphasized Alberti. The ideal of an active life makes his ethics related to civil humanism, but there are also many features in it that allow us to characterize Alberti's teaching as an independent trend in humanism.
Family
An important role in the upbringing of a person who energetically increases his own benefits and the benefits of society and the state through honest work, Alberti assigned to the family. In it, he saw the basic cell of the entire system of social order. The humanist paid much attention to family foundations, especially in the dialogues written in Wolgar " About family" And " Domostroy". In them, he addresses the problems of upbringing and primary education of the younger generation, solving them from a humanistic position. It defines the principle of the relationship between parents and children, bearing in mind the main goal - strengthening the family, its inner harmony.
Family and society
In the economic practice of Alberti's time, family commercial, industrial and financial companies played an important role, in this regard, the humanist also considers the family as the basis of economic activity. He associated the path to the well-being and wealth of the family with reasonable housekeeping, with hoarding based on the principles of thrift, diligent care of business, hard work. Alberti considered dishonest methods of enrichment unacceptable (partly at odds with merchant practice and mentality), because they deprive the family of a good reputation. The humanist advocated such relations between the individual and society, in which personal interest is consistent with the interests of other people. However, in contrast to the ethics of civil humanism, Alberti believed it possible, under certain circumstances, to put the interests of the family above momentary public good. He, for example, recognized as acceptable the refusal of public service for the sake of concentrating on economic work, since, in the final analysis, as the humanist believed, the well-being of the state is based on the solid material foundations of individual families.
Society
Alberti society itself thinks as a harmonious unity of all its layers, which should be facilitated by the activities of the rulers. Pondering the conditions of achievement social harmony, Alberti in the treatise " About architecture"draws an ideal city, beautiful in terms of rational planning and the appearance of buildings, streets, squares. The entire living environment of a person is arranged here in such a way that it meets the needs of the individual, family, and society as a whole. The city is divided into different spatial zones: in the center are the buildings of the highest magistracies and the palaces of the rulers, on the outskirts - quarters of artisans and small merchants. The palaces of the upper stratum of society are thus spatially separated from the dwellings of the poor. This urban planning principle, according to Alberti, should prevent the harmful consequences of possible popular unrest. The ideal city of Alberti is characterized, however, by the equal improvement of all its parts for the life of people of different social status and the accessibility of all its inhabitants to beautiful public buildings - schools, thermal baths, theaters.
The embodiment of ideas about the ideal city in a word or image was one of the typical features of the Italian Renaissance culture. The architect Filarete, the scientist and artist Leonardo da Vinci, the authors of social utopias of the 16th century paid tribute to the projects of such cities. They reflected the dream of humanists about the harmony of human society, about the excellent external conditions that contribute to its stability and the happiness of every person.
Moral perfection
Like many humanists, Alberti shared ideas about the possibility of ensuring social peace through the moral improvement of each person, the development of his active virtue and creativity. At the same time, being a thoughtful analyst of life practice and people's psychology, he saw " human kingdom in all the complexity of its contradictions: refusing to be guided by reason and knowledge, people sometimes become destroyers rather than creators of harmony in the earthly world. Alberti's doubts found vivid expression in his " Mome" And " table talk”, but did not become decisive for the main line of his reflections. The ironic perception of the reality of human deeds, characteristic of these works, did not shake the deep faith of the humanist in the creative power of man, called to equip the world according to the laws of reason and beauty. Many of Alberti's ideas were further developed in the work of Leonardo da Vinci.
Creation
Literature
Alberti wrote his first works in the 1920s. - comedy " Philodox"(1425)," Deifira"(1428) and others. In the 30s - early 40s. created a number of works in Latin - " On the advantages and disadvantages of scientists"(1430), "On Law" (1437), " Pontifex"(1437); dialogues in Volgar on ethical topics - " About family"(1434-1441)," About peace of mind» (1443).
In the 50-60s. Alberti wrote a satirical-allegorical cycle " table talk"- his main works in the field of literature, which became examples of Latin humanistic prose of the 15th century. Alberti's latest works: " On the principles of compiling codes” (a mathematical treatise, subsequently lost) and a dialogue in Volgar “ Domostroy» (1470).
Alberti was one of the first to advocate the use of the Italian language in literary work. His elegies and eclogues are the first examples of these genres in Italian.
Alberti created a largely original (dating back to Plato, Aristotle, Xenophon and Cicero) concept of man based on the idea of harmony. Alberti's ethics - secular in nature - was distinguished by attention to the problem of man's earthly existence, his moral perfection. He exalted the natural abilities of man, valued knowledge, creativity, and the human mind. In the teachings of Alberti, the ideal of a harmonious personality received the most integral expression. Alberti united all the potential abilities of a person with the concept virtual(valor, ability). It is in the power of man to reveal these natural abilities and become a full-fledged creator of his own destiny. According to Alberti, upbringing and education should develop the properties of nature in a person. Human abilities. his mind, will, courage help him survive in the fight against the goddess of chance, Fortune. The ethical concept of Alberti is full of faith in the ability of a person to rationally arrange his life, family, society, and state. Alberti considered the family to be the main social unit.
Architecture
Alberti the architect had a great influence on the formation of the High Renaissance style. Following Filippo, Brunelleschi developed antique motifs in architecture. According to his designs was built
ALBERTI, LEON BATTISTA(Alberti, Leon Battista) (1404–1472), Italian humanist, philosopher, writer, architect, sculptor, artist. The illegitimate offspring of the influential Florentine merchant family Alberti. His father, expelled from Florence, settled in Genoa; there on February 14, 1404 his son Leon Battista was born.
He was educated in Padua at the school of the humanist teacher Gasparino Barritz, where he got acquainted with ancient languages and mathematics, and at the University of Bologna, where he studied canon law, Greek literature and philosophy. Demonstrated exceptional ability in all disciplines. Composed a number of literary works, including comedy Philodoxius(Philodoxius). After graduating from the university in 1428, he spent several years in France as secretary to the apostolic nuncio (ambassador) Cardinal N. Albergati; traveled to the Netherlands and Germany. In 1430 he compiled a treatise On the advantages and disadvantages of scientists(De commodis et incommodis litterarum). In 1432 he returned to Italy and received the post of abreviator (secretary) of the Roman Curia. After the uprising in Rome in late May - early June 1434, following Pope Eugene IV, he fled to Florence; wrote an ethical dialogue there Theogenio(Teogenio) and art history treatise Three books on painting(De pictura libri tres), dedicated to the sculptor F. Brunelleschi; started writing essay About family(Della family), which he graduated in 1441. Accompanied the papal court to Bologna (April 1437), Ferrara (January 1438), Florence (January 1439); His legal writings date back to this time. About law And Pontifex and ethical dialogue About peace of mind(Della tranquilitá dell "animo).
Returned to Rome after the restoration of papal power in September 1443; since that time, architecture and mathematics have become the main object of his scientific interests. Painted in the mid 1440s Math fun (Ludi mathematici), in which he touched upon a number of problems in physics, geometry and astronomy, and in the early 1450s his main work Ten books on architecture(De re aedificatoria libri decem), where he summarized ancient and modern experience and formulated a holistic Renaissance concept of architecture (published in 1485); nicknamed "modern Vitruvius". Later wrote a treatise On the principles of coding(De componendis cifris) is the first scientific work on cryptography. Served as an architect-practitioner. Drafted and supervised the construction of the Church of San Francesco in Rimini, the choirs of the Church of Santissima Annunziata (1451), the Palazzo Rucellai (1451–1454) and the facade of the Church of Santa Maria Novella (1470) in Florence, the churches of San Sebastiano (1460) and San Andrea (1472) in Mantua. At the same time, he did not leave his literary pursuits: in the late 1440s, an ethical and political satire-allegory came out from under his pen. Mom, or about the sovereign(Momus o de principe), in the 1450s-1460s - an extensive satirical cycle table talk(Intercoenales), OK. 1470 - ethical dialogue Domostroy(Deiciarchus).
He died in Rome in 1472.
Alberti has been called "the most versatile genius of the Early Renaissance". He left his mark in almost all areas of science and art of his time - philology, mathematics, cryptography, cartography, pedagogy, art theory, literature, music, architecture, sculpture, painting. He created his own ethical and philosophical system, which was based on a rather original concept of man.
Alberti considered man as a being, originally perfect, and thought of his destiny as purely earthly. Nature is also perfect, so if a person follows its laws, he can find happiness. Man learns the laws of nature through reason. The process of their cognition is not passive contemplation, but active activity, creativity in its most diverse forms. The ideal man is homo faber, "active man". AB Alberti sharply condemns the Epicurean idea of non-doing as an ethical value. He puts a moral meaning into the concept of activity: happiness can be achieved only by practicing good deeds, i.e. those that require courage and honesty and benefit many. A virtuous person should always be guided by the principle of proportion; he does not act contrary to nature and does not try to change it (the highest dishonor).
The key issue of Alberti's ethical concept is the question of fate (Fortune) and the limits of its power over a person. He believes that a virtuous person, armed with reason, is able to overcome fate. However, in his latest writings ( table talk and especially Mom, or about the sovereign) the motive of a person appears as a toy of fate, as an unreasonable creature who is unable to keep his passions under the control of the mind. Such a pessimistic position anticipates the views of many representatives of the High Renaissance.
According to Alberti, society is the harmonious unity of all its members, which is ensured by the rational activity of the ruler, wise, enlightened and merciful. Its main cell is the family - the main institution of education and economic activity; within its framework, private and public interests are harmonized ( About family, Domostroy). Such an ideal society is conceived by him in the form of a perfect city, described in Ten books on architecture. The city is a harmonious union of human and natural; its layout, the interior and exterior of each building, based on measure and proportion, are designed to serve the affirmation of morality and happiness. Architecture for A. B. Alberti reproduces the existing order of nature better than other arts and therefore surpasses them all.
A. B. Alberti had a great influence on the formation of humanistic ethics and on the development of Renaissance art, primarily architecture and portraiture.
Translations into Russian: Alberti Leon Battista. Ten books on architecture. M., 1935–1937. T. 1–2; Alberti Leon Battista. Religion. Virtue. Rock and Fortune// Works of Italian humanists of the Renaissance (XV century). M., 1985.
Ivan Krivushin
