Leon Battista Alberti was an architect and humanist scholar that lived in an urban city. He was ranked as one of the sons of one of the wealthiest Florentine families. He strongly believed that in order for civilization to exist, that the city played a role. He was important because he was the founder of modern architecture. He wrote the first modern treatise on painting, architecture, and on sculpture. These were vital contributions to its field of discussions of theory and perspectives. His ideas on perspective provided groundwork for two Renaissance giants. They were Piero della Francesa and Leonardo da Vinci. If it weren’t for Alberti, who knows if these artists would have done what they did in history. Alberti is considered the father of the Early Renaissance art theory. He was very influential because he would put his ideas into practice, and he also designed many churches in Italy. He believed in three fundamental principles for building. The first one was stability and the usefulness of a structure. The second were the lines, proportions, and angles. The last principles were the elements of beauty and ornamentation. This meant that when building something, you had to be precise about it too. Alberti was not about building things with his hand, but mostly with his mind and his theories. He had his first commision in 1450 for Sigismondo Malatesta of Rimini. He actually even dealt with the Church of Santa Maria Novella. He was called upon to complete the facade of the church. He added an arched central doorway and unified it with pilasters and a high attic zone. It was beautiful! Another church he designed was S.Sebastino and S.Andrea church. These church designs were built specifically for Ludovico Gonzaga of Mantua. He even made a commission from these designs.