A personal view by Kenneth Clark

'The architect Leon Battista Alberti addressed man in these words: "To you is given a body more graceful than other animals, to you power of apt and various movements, to you most sharp and delicate senses, to you wit, reason, memory like an immortal god."'

The early Renaissance saw Alberti and the other men of his time emerge as confident individuals, taking delight in art and ideas. Sir Kenneth Clark visits Florence, where European thought was first given a new impetus by the re-discovery of the classical past, and continues his journey to the palaces of Urbino and Mantua, centres of Renaissance civilisation.

Federigo Montefeltro was not only a powerful general and a wise ruler who valued humanity in government, but also a man of wide learning. Sir Kenneth considers his palace on its hilltop at Urbino to be one of the most beautiful pieces of architecture in the world. The Duke's sympathetic patronage drew artists of every kind to his court, among them Piero della Francesca, and Raphael and Bramante received their early training there.
Shown on Sunday
(Colour)