Self Portrait of a Universal Man cover art

Self Portrait of a Universal Man

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Self Portrait of a Universal Man

By: Leon Battista Alberti
Narrated by: Peter Batchelor
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About this listen

Leon Battista Albert was an Italian author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, cryptographer and general Renaissance humanist polymath. This is the essay that coined the term “renaissance man”. An inspiring essay on the full potential of the human spirit. Especially important listening for the modern male who aspires to greatness.

©2012 Trout Lake Media (P)2012 Trout Lake Media Philosophy
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I was expecting something in a more philosophical vein. I was not expecting a biography of Leon Battista Albert, who I was not aware of people until now. It wasn't bad. I found it interesting.

The work is obviously public domain, but when I search for the title this is the only work that comes up. After a bit of digging I discovered that Albert's life was described in Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects.

That work is a ten volume set, but I was able to quickly find the chapter in the Librivox edition. This is not it. Yet the language is old and it appears to have been written by someone who knew him or was intimate with the details of his life.

Anyway, it was a cheap purchase and I learned something. Apparently this is the man who gave rise to the term "A renaissance man".

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