Una Nueva aproximación al De re aedificatoria de Leon Battista Alberti: los conocimientos constructivos y sus fuentes.
Authors:   , Onecha Pérez Ana Belen 
Published: October 2023

El De re aedificatoria, segundo tratado conocido de arquitectura en la historia y escrito
entre 1443 y 1452 por Leon Battista Alberti, es uno de los textos arquitectónicos más
estudiados. La época histórica a la que pertenece, el renacimiento; los lazos que lo
ligan a épocas pasadas esplendorosas; la teoría expuesta sobre las proporciones,
derivada de los estándares greco-romanos; y el interés por el personaje que lo escribió,
han sido los grandes enfoques a través de las cuales se ha abordado incesantemente
el documento.
Sin embargo, y a pesar de ser considerado un tratado técnico por la mayoría de
autores, nunca se ha estudiado desde el punto de vista de los contenidos sobre
construcción que incorpora, quizá precisamente porque entre esos autores los
arquitectos constituyen minoría respecto a los historiadores y literatos.
Otro aspecto desconocido, pero ligado directamente al anterior, es el origen de los
conocimientos constructivos de Alberti, puesto que aún siendo el autor de proyectos
que se desarrollaban durante la redacción del tratado, como el Palacio Rucellai en
Florencia o el Templo Malatestiano en Rímini, está documentado que los directores de
obra respectivos fueron Bernardo Rossellino y Mateo di Pasti.
Esta memoria de tesis identifica, contrasta y analiza todos los conocimientos
constructivos que aparecen descritos en el De re aedificatoria, muchos de ellos por
primera vez en la historia, así como las fuentes que les son asociadas, con la intención
de demostrar que los conocimientos constructivos no solo son verídicos y muy
abundantes, sino que constituyen un verdadero corpus del saber arquitectónico.
Además, se analizan y sistematizan las fuentes para determinar hasta qué punto son
verídicas o son solo una manera de autorizarse recurriendo a la antigüedad.
De re aedificatoria second architectural treatise known in history, written
between 1443 and 1452 by Leon Battista Alberti, is one of the most studied
architectural texts. The historical period to which it belongs, the Renaissance, the
ties that bind it to a splendid past, the proportions theory derived from Greco-
Roman standards, and the interest in the person who wrote it, have been the big
approaches through which the experts have incessantly studied it.
However, and despite being considered as a technical treatise by most authors, It
has never been studied from the point of view of contents incorporating
construction, perhaps precisely because among these authors the architects are
a minority in comparison with historians and writers.
Another unknown topic, but directly linked to above, is the source of Alberti’s
constructive knowledge, because despite being the author of projects that were
developed during the drafting of the treatise, as the Rucellai Palace in Florence
or Malatesta Temple in Rimini, it is documented that the respective project
managers were Bernardo Rossellino and Matthew di Pasti, so that is quite feasible
that Alberti was not involved heavily in his works.
From a thorough study of the treatise, making use of various translations of the
same, even the original Latin, have been extracted all the bits that refer to
constructive aspects, analyzing them by using tabs and summary tables by type
and source of constructive knowledge.
Thus, this PhD dissertation identifies, contrasts and analyzes all constructive
knowledge is described in the De re aedificatoria, many for the first time in
history, and sources associated to them, intending to show that constructive
knowledge is true and not only abundant, but are a real body of architectural
knowledge that structures the entire treatise. It Has also been analyzed and
systematized knowledge concerning such sources to determine to what extent
they are real or just a way of getting authority by using the classical culture.
The findings are based on considerations that incorporate a reflection on the true
structure of the treatise, going through the Alberti enlargement of architectural
purposes with respect to the Vitruvian triad, to finish determining the treatise
corpus of construction knowledge raised by the author under a new approach to
history, true content, but of undetermined origin.