Since Yale art historian Diana E. E. Kleiner first fell in love with ancient Roman architecture as an undergraduate, she has leaned on many of the world’s oldest buildings, monuments, and ruins.
Leaning on a building was a habit she developed after taking a course at Smith College with William L. MacDonald, an eminent architectural historian who specialized on classical Rome. In the forward to his 1965 book “The Architecture of the Roman Empire,” published by Yale University Press, MacDonald wrote: “In the study of architecture, there can be no substitute for leaning against one’s buildings.”
http://news.yale.edu/2014/07/15/art-historian-diana-kleiner-leans-buildings-and-inspires-others-do-same
