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Daniele Donnini

Thesis: The invention of architecture in the “Hypnerotomachia Poliphili” (Venice, 1499)

Supervisor: Lorenzo Pericolo

About

Daniele had his education at the University of Florence where he completed his BA (Diploma di laurea) and his MA (Laurea specialistica). Daniele is currently a PhD student in History of Art under the supervision of Dr. Lorenzo Pericolo. His thesis aims to provide broader insights into the architectural culture of the author of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, an anonymous book printed in Venice in 1499 by Aldo Manuzio. This project concerns the analysis of architecture as used and inflected by the author of the Hypnerotomachia. Its intent is to clarify, as much as possible, not only its cultural background, but especially the architectural innovations, both theoretical and symbolic, embodied by the anonymous authorʼs fictive architectures. It is the intention of this dissertation to demonstrate the role of the anonymous author among the most remarkable architectural theorists of the Renaissance. In many respects, not only does the Hypnerotomachia deserve to be considered in relation with contemporary architectural treatises, but many of its building projects are worthy of attention and accurate analysis, in order to establish, once and for all, whether its author can be properly defined as an architect.

 

Research Interests

Theory and history of architecture, architectural treatises and Renaissance architecture.

 

Publications

Vitruvius and the classical orders, Springer publications, 2016 (forthcoming).

 

Awards

History of Art Departmental Award, University of Warwick (UK). Travel Grant to take part to the Warwick in Venice Program, 2015.

IT Services Scholarship, University of Warwick (UK). Three-week research grant to attend at the Digital Humanities Summer School in Leipzig, 2015.


Contact: d.donnini@warwick.ac.uk