Leonardo da Vinci, The Proportions of the Human Figure (after Vitruvius), c 1490

Abstract

In the quincentenary of his death Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) remains one of the most famous people who ever lived and museums worldwide will mark the event. However, anyone who hasn’t seen the Mona Lisa in the Louvre ought to be forewarned that his most famous works include some of his smallest. That is the case for his pen and ink on paper Le proporzioni del corpo umano secondo Vitruvio or The Proportions of the Human Figure (after Vitruvius) drawn sometime between 1490 and 1492. Commonly known as Vitruvian Man it measures 34.4 × 24.5 cm [1]. It is held by the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice but is not on display because prolonged exposure to light would fade the ink [2]. Leonardo’s drawing was inspired by Marcus Vitruvius Pollio who designed and built artillery in the Roman army in the 1st century BC [2]. Vitruvius became an architect and wrote De Architectura in which he proposed that the proportions of a temple should reflect those of the human body [1]. He also argued that a well-proportioned human body with arms and legs outstretched formed a circle with the umbilicus at the centre; and that arm-span equalled height such that a square could be formed at the centre of which was the root of the penis or Il membro virile [1,2]. Above and below Leonardo’s drawing of Vitruvian Man are two blocks of manuscript written in reverse. In one block, Leonardo notes that, according to Vitruvius the measurements of the human body are distributed by nature and describes relations such as six palms make one cubit and four cubits make a man’s height [3]; a cubit being an ancient measure using the distance between the elbow and the tip of the middle finger. Remaining text describes proportions based on Vitruvius which determined that relative to man’s height shoulder width was a maximum of a quarter; foot length a seventh; head height one-eighth; hand length one-tenth; and so on [2]. Leonardo commenced anatomy studies in 1489 and he modified proportions, for example Vitruvius proposed that foot length was one-sixth relative to height. In fact, less than half of the measurements are ones handed down by Vitruvius [2]. In the drawing readers will note that the left foot is positioned awkwardly; this was intentional to help demonstrate the proportions. While not evident in the reproduction one can see in the original indentations made by Leonardo’s pen and the pricks left by the points of his compass [2]. Two of Leonardo’s acquaintances Francesco di Giorgio Martini and Giacomo Andrea da Ferrara also drew Vitruvian men around the same time but neither drawing has the same precision or artistic merit. These drawings can be discovered on the internet.

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