Rucellai, Giovanni di Paolo (1403–1481)

Florentine patrician and architectural patron in Florence. The Rucellai family's money came from their cloth-trading activities; Giovanni used this wealth for cultural patronage, in particular two ostentatious building works, both designed by Leon Battista Alberti: his family palace, begun in 1446, and the upper facade of the church of Santa Maria Novella (1456–70), replete with Rucellai's heraldic symbol, the wind-filled sail (a device he borrowed from the d'Este dynasty). These works, he recorded, were to the glory of God, the city, and (last and least) himself.