The Appearance of Keplerian Polyhedra in an Illusory Architecture

The illusion of ancient frescoes takes on a new form through the methods offered by digital technologies. This contribution deals with the representation of a geometric solid in the decoration of the Room of Leda in Palazzo Balbi Senarega in Genoa: this is the small stellated dodecahedron described by Johannes Kepler in 1619. An in–depth documentary and iconographic research has allowed us to prove that this is the first perspective representation of this solid which took place about thirty–five years after its discovery. The aim is to investigate and illustrate in a communicative, but not simplifying way, the connections between an example of Genoese decoration and the wider seventeenth–century milieu, which features artists, scientists, and generous patrons with their unsung brides.