But the most human achievement to his credit is his powerful plea for using the vernacular in literature, rather than concealing one's best thoughts, as was fashionable before his protest, in Latin.

So much for Alberti's intellectual side.

Physically he was remarkable too, and one of his accomplishments was to jump over a man standing upright, while he was also able to throw a coin on to the highest tower, even, I suppose, the Campanile, and ride any horse, however wild.

At the Bargello may be seen Alberti's portrait, on a medal designed by Pisanello.

The old medals are indeed the best authority for the lineaments of the great men of the Renaissance, better far than paint.