Florence - Palazzo Rucellai (Museo Alinari)

The architect Bernardo Rossellino built the Palazzo Rucellai between 1446 and 1451 to designs by Leon Battista Alberti. It is one of Florence's finest Renaissance mansions, and was commissioned by Giovanni Rucellai, a wealthy merchant who acquired his wealth and status in the 15th century.

Alberti and Bernardo Rossellino, as architect and artist, were able to give free rein to their talents on this building, as their rich client readily provided them with the means to do so.

Their clarity of conception and breadth of execution can be seen in the precision of the facade with its tapering pilasters, variety of window shapes, carefully hewn blocks of ashlar and storys of gradually diminishing height. It was a milestone in the architectural history of the Renaissance. Above the first-floor windows can be seen a stone frieze of billowing sails, the trade-mark of the Rucellai family, owners of the palazzo till the present day.