'This study offers a definitive chronology and morphology of stage machinery, including the emphasis on Florence and the rewriting of the ’Baroque cloud dome’ history from Correggio to Lanfranco. There is a mine of great information throughout the book and anyone seeking to use the book selectively to learn about one monument - e.g. Cigoli's dome in Santa Maria Maggiore - will find the structural elements of each example outlined and be able to understand where such a monument stands in the larger development of dome decoration.' Ian Verstegen (University of Pennsylvania) is author of Cognitive Iconology: When and How Psychology Explains Images