This work is of great interest and considerable importance: of interest as an exciting detective story, and of importance as a timely attempt to formulate an epistemology of architectural/cororeal cognittion by unravelling the threads that, in the Hypnerotomachia, end up weaving what the author calls the 'humanist body.' The evidence cited in support of the argument attributing the Hypnerotomachia to Alberti is most impressive, and certainyl convinced me. The potential readership for the work is a wide one: among novices, among specialists and among the growing numbers of people interested in the history of the human body. For the latter group, Lefaivre's account of how and why this body became so unequivocally architectural with Alberti and the quattrocentro will be of particualr interest. -- Indra K. McEdwen, Architectural Historian, McGill University This book is an important contribution to our understanding of this complex and rich architectural treatise, whose various levels of meaning the author unravels with erudition and grace. Especially significant is the connection made between the reconfiguration of the body and that of architecture, both approached as sources of pleasure. Equally important is the discussion of creativity as a recombination of visual and textual elements, and the analysis of the treatise as part of the humanist thought-world. The book will read with great profit by those interested in the history of architecture, the history of Renaissance and the history of mentalites. -- Angeliki E. Laiou, Professor of Byzantine History, Harvard University; and Director, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection
Liane Lefaivre is Professor and Chair of History and Theory of Architecture, University of Applied Art, Vienna, and Research Associate at the Technical University of Delft.
"It is engagingly written, and should serve well to introduce its fascinating subject to a nonspecialist audience." - Joscelyn Godwin, DBR (Design Book Review)"
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