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Optical Illusions in Rome: A Mathematical Travel Guide
 
Kirsti Andersen Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

Translated by Viktor Blåsjö

Optical Illusions in Rome
MAA Press: An Imprint of the American Mathematical Society
Softcover ISBN:  978-1-4704-5267-4
Product Code:  SPEC/99
List Price: $65.00
MAA Member Price: $48.75
AMS Member Price: $48.75
eBook ISBN:  978-1-4704-5528-6
Product Code:  SPEC/99.E
List Price: $55.00
MAA Member Price: $41.25
AMS Member Price: $41.25
Softcover ISBN:  978-1-4704-5267-4
eBook: ISBN:  978-1-4704-5528-6
Product Code:  SPEC/99.B
List Price: $120.00 $92.50
MAA Member Price: $90.00 $69.38
AMS Member Price: $90.00 $69.38
Optical Illusions in Rome
Click above image for expanded view
Optical Illusions in Rome: A Mathematical Travel Guide
Kirsti Andersen Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

Translated by Viktor Blåsjö

MAA Press: An Imprint of the American Mathematical Society
Softcover ISBN:  978-1-4704-5267-4
Product Code:  SPEC/99
List Price: $65.00
MAA Member Price: $48.75
AMS Member Price: $48.75
eBook ISBN:  978-1-4704-5528-6
Product Code:  SPEC/99.E
List Price: $55.00
MAA Member Price: $41.25
AMS Member Price: $41.25
Softcover ISBN:  978-1-4704-5267-4
eBook ISBN:  978-1-4704-5528-6
Product Code:  SPEC/99.B
List Price: $120.00 $92.50
MAA Member Price: $90.00 $69.38
AMS Member Price: $90.00 $69.38
  • Book Details
     
     
    Spectrum
    Volume: 992019; 80 pp
    MSC: Primary 01; 00; Secondary 51

    Optical Illusions in Rome is a beautifully written and richly illustrated guide that takes the reader on a tour through ingenious uses of geometry to create illusory impressions of space and grandeur in Italian Renaissance art and architecture in the Eternal City. The book takes us to some of the most striking and historically important uses of optical illusion and includes works of Peruzzi, Borromini, and Pozzo. The artworks are analyzed geometrically and placed in their historical context. The notes on visiting the art described make the volume the perfect companion for a study trip to Rome. A chapter on the principles of perspective geometry and a collection of exercises make the book a wonderful resource for a module on perspective in a geometry or art history course. The mathematical discussion is kept at a level accessible to a reader with a familiarity with high school geometry.

    Kirsti Andersen is a distinguished historian of mathematics and emerita faculty at Aarhus University. Her previous book, The Geometry of an Art, is widely recognized as the definitive work on the history of the use of perspective in European art. Viktor Blåsjö, the translator, is a historian of mathematics on the faculty at Utrecht University. Blåsjö has won both the Ford and Pólya prizes for expository writing from the Mathematical Association of America.

    Readership

    Undergraduate and graduate students and researchers interested in art, perspective, and mathematical tourism.

  • Table of Contents
     
     
    • Chapters
    • Introduction
    • Trompe l’œil on walls
    • Three-dimensional trompe l’œil
    • The anamorphosis in Trinità dei Monti
    • Ceilings as image surfaces
    • Some results from perspective theory
    • Exercises
  • Reviews
     
     
    • 'Optical Illusions in Rome' is a beautifully written and richly illustrated guide that takes the reader on a tour through ingenious uses of geometry to create illusory impressions of space and grandeur in Italian Renaissance art and architecture in the Eternal City. The book takes us to some of the most striking and historically important uses of optical illusion and includes works of Peruzzi, Borromini, and Pozzo. The artworks are analyzed geometrically and placed in their historical context. The notes on visiting the art described make the volume the perfect companion for a study trip to Rome. A chapter on the principles of perspective geometry and a collection of exercises make the book a wonderful resource for a module on perspective in a geometry or art history course.

      Joel Haack, University of Northern Iowa, MAA Reviews
  • Requests
     
     
    Review Copy – for publishers of book reviews
    Accessibility – to request an alternate format of an AMS title
Volume: 992019; 80 pp
MSC: Primary 01; 00; Secondary 51

Optical Illusions in Rome is a beautifully written and richly illustrated guide that takes the reader on a tour through ingenious uses of geometry to create illusory impressions of space and grandeur in Italian Renaissance art and architecture in the Eternal City. The book takes us to some of the most striking and historically important uses of optical illusion and includes works of Peruzzi, Borromini, and Pozzo. The artworks are analyzed geometrically and placed in their historical context. The notes on visiting the art described make the volume the perfect companion for a study trip to Rome. A chapter on the principles of perspective geometry and a collection of exercises make the book a wonderful resource for a module on perspective in a geometry or art history course. The mathematical discussion is kept at a level accessible to a reader with a familiarity with high school geometry.

Kirsti Andersen is a distinguished historian of mathematics and emerita faculty at Aarhus University. Her previous book, The Geometry of an Art, is widely recognized as the definitive work on the history of the use of perspective in European art. Viktor Blåsjö, the translator, is a historian of mathematics on the faculty at Utrecht University. Blåsjö has won both the Ford and Pólya prizes for expository writing from the Mathematical Association of America.

Readership

Undergraduate and graduate students and researchers interested in art, perspective, and mathematical tourism.

  • Chapters
  • Introduction
  • Trompe l’œil on walls
  • Three-dimensional trompe l’œil
  • The anamorphosis in Trinità dei Monti
  • Ceilings as image surfaces
  • Some results from perspective theory
  • Exercises
  • 'Optical Illusions in Rome' is a beautifully written and richly illustrated guide that takes the reader on a tour through ingenious uses of geometry to create illusory impressions of space and grandeur in Italian Renaissance art and architecture in the Eternal City. The book takes us to some of the most striking and historically important uses of optical illusion and includes works of Peruzzi, Borromini, and Pozzo. The artworks are analyzed geometrically and placed in their historical context. The notes on visiting the art described make the volume the perfect companion for a study trip to Rome. A chapter on the principles of perspective geometry and a collection of exercises make the book a wonderful resource for a module on perspective in a geometry or art history course.

    Joel Haack, University of Northern Iowa, MAA Reviews
Review Copy – for publishers of book reviews
Accessibility – to request an alternate format of an AMS title
Please select which format for which you are requesting permissions.