Vitruvian Man: Leonardo da Vinci

Vitruvian Man is a famous draving with accompanying notes by Leonardo da Vinci made around the year 1490 in one his journals. It depicts a naked male figure in two superimposed positions with his arms apart and simultaneously circumscribed in a circle and square. The drawing and text are sometimes called the Canon of Proportions.

The drawing is in pen, ink, and watercolor over metalpoint and measures 34.3 x 24.5 cm. It is currently part of the collection of the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice.

According to Leonardo's notes in the accomanying text, it was made as a study of the proportions of the (male) human body as described in a treatise by the Ancient Roman architect Vitruvius, who wrote that in the human body:

• a palm is the width of four fingers
• a foot is the width of four palms
• a cubit is the width of six palms
• a man's height is four cubits (and thus 24 palms)
• a pace is four cubits
• the length of man's outspread arms are equal to his height
• the distance from the hairline to the bottom of the chin is one-tenth of a man's height
• the distance from the top of the head to the bottom of the chin is one-eighth of a man's height
• the distance from the hairline to the top of the breast is one-seventh of a man's height
• the distance from the top of the head to the nipples is one-fourth of a man's height
• the maximum width of the shoulders is one-fourth of a man's height
• the distance from the elbow to the tip of the hand is one-fifth of a man's height
• the distance from the elow to the armpit is one-eight of a man's height
• the length of the hand is one-tenth of a man's height
• the distance from the bottom of the chin to the nose is one-third of the length of the face
• the distance from the hairline to the eyebrows is one-third of the length of the face
• the length of the ear is one-third of the length of the face

The drawing itself is often used as an implied symbol of the essential symmetry of the human body, and by extension, to the universe as a whole, whether by mathematical order or intelligent design, or both.

It may be noticed by examining the drawing that the combination of arm and leg positions actually creates four different poses. The pose with the arms straight out and the feet together is seen to be circumscribed in the superimposed square. On the other hand, the "spread-eagle" pose is seen to be circumscribed in the superimposed circle. This illustrates the principle that in the shift between the two poses, the apparent center of the figure seems to move, but in reality, the navel of the figure, which is the true center of gravity, remains motionless.

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