Leonardo da Vinci and his Vitruvian Man
The Vitruvian Man is a drawing made by Leonardo Da Vinci around 1490-1492 as an illustration for a book dedicated to the writings of Vitruvius. The drawing is accompanied by explanatory inscriptions in one of his journals. It depicts the figure of a naked man in two superimposed positions: with arms outstretched to the sides, describing a circle and a square. Drawing and text are sometimes referred to as canonical proportions.
1. Leonardo never intended to flaunt his "Vitruvian Man"
Self-portrait. After 1512
Paper, sanguine. 33.3×21.6 cm
Royal Library, Turin. Wikimedia Commons
The sketch was discovered in one of the Renaissance master's personal notebooks. In fact, Leonardo drew a sketch for his own research and did not even suspect that he would someday be admired. However, today "Vitruvian Man" is one of the most famous works artist, along with The Last Supper and Mona Lisa.
The figure and its explanations are sometimes called "canonical proportions". The drawing is made in pen, ink and watercolor with a metal pencil, the dimensions of the drawing are 24.5 × 34.3 centimeters. It is currently in the collection of the Accademia Gallery in Venice. The drawing is both a scientific work and a work of art, and it also exemplifies Leonardo's interest in proportions.
According to Leonardo's accompanying notes, it was created to determine the proportions of (male) human body, as described in the treatise of the ancient architect Vitruvius "On Architecture" (Book III, chapter I):
* the length from the tip of the longest to the lowest base of the four fingers is equal to the length of the palm;
* the foot is four palms;
* the elbow is six palms;
* the height of a person is four cubits from the tips of the fingers (and, accordingly, 24 palms);
* a step is equal to four palms;
* scope human hands equal to his height;
* the distance from the hairline to the chin is 1/10 of its height;
* the distance from the top of the head to the chin is 1/8 of its height;
* the distance from the crown to the nipples is 1/4 of its height;
* the maximum width of the shoulders is 1/4 of its height;
* the distance from the elbow to the tip of the arm is 1/4 of its height;
* the distance from the elbow to the armpit is 1/8 of its height;
* the length of the arm is 2/5 of its height;
* the distance from the chin to the nose is 1/3 of the length of his face;
* the distance from the hairline to the eyebrows is 1/3 of the length of his face;
* the length of the ears is 1/3 of the length of the face;
* The navel is the center of the circle.
2. Combination of art and science
Leonardo da Vinci. Vitruvian Man. 1490
Homo vitruviano
34.3×24.5 cm
Accademia Gallery, Venice. Wikimedia Commons
Being a true representative of the Renaissance, Leonardo was not only a painter, sculptor and writer, but also an inventor, architect, engineer, mathematician and an expert in anatomy. This ink drawing was the result of Leonardo's study of the theories of human proportions described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius.
3. Leonardo wasn't the first to try to illustrate Vitruvius' theories
As modern scholars believe, there were many people in the 15th century and subsequent decades who tried to capture this idea in visual form.
4. Perhaps the drawing was made not only by Leonardo himself
In 2012, the Italian architectural historian Claudio Sgarbi published findings that Leonardo's study of human body proportions was prompted by a similar study done by his friend and fellow architect Giacomo Andrea de Ferrara. It is still unclear if they worked together. Even if this theory is incorrect, historians agree that Leonardo perfected the shortcomings of Giacomo's work.
5. The circle and the square have their own hidden meaning.
In their mathematical studies, Vitruvius and Leonardo described not only the proportions of man, but also the proportions of the entire creation. IN notebook 1492 Leonardo's entry was found: " ancient man was the world in miniature. Since man is made up of earth, water, air and fire, his body resembles a microcosm of the universe."
6. "Vitruvian Man" is just one of many sketches
In order to improve his art and better understand how the world around him works, Leonardo painted many people in order to form an idea of ideal proportions.
7. Vitruvian man - the ideal of a man
Who served as a model will remain a mystery, but art historians believe that Leonardo took some liberties in his drawing. This work was not so much a portrait as a conscientious depiction of ideal male forms in terms of mathematics.
8. It could be a self-portrait
Since there is no description of the model from which this sketch was drawn, some art historians believe that Leonardo painted the "Vitruvian Man" from himself.
9 The Vitruvian Man Had A Hernia
Khutan Ashrafyan, a surgeon at Imperial College London, 521 years after the creation of the famous drawing, established that the person depicted in the sketch had an inguinal hernia, which could lead to his death.
10. To understand the full meaning of the picture, you need to read the notes to it.
When the sketch was originally discovered in Lernardo's notebook, next to it were the artist's notes on human proportions, which read: "The architect Vitruvius states in his work on architecture that the measurements of the human body are distributed according to the following principle: the width of 4 fingers is equal to 1 palm, the foot is 4 palms, the elbow is 6 palms, full height a person - 4 cubits or 24 palms ... Vitruvius used the same measurements in the construction of his buildings.
11. The body is lined with measured lines 
If you look closely at the chest, arms and face of a person in the drawing, you can see straight lines that mark the proportions that Leonardo wrote about in his notes. For example, the part of the face from the bottom of the nose to the eyebrows is a third of the face, as is the part of the face from the bottom of the nose to the chin and from the eyebrows to the line where the hair begins to grow.
12. The sketch has other, less esoteric names. 
The sketch is also called "The Canon of Proportions" or "The Proportions of a Man".
13. The Vitruvian Man does 16 poses at the same time.
At first glance, only two poses can be seen: standing man, who moved his legs and spread his arms, and a standing man with legs apart and arms raised. But part of the genius of Leonardo's depiction is that 16 poses are depicted simultaneously in one drawing.
14. Leonardo da Vinci's creation was used to represent the problems of our time.
Irish artist John Quigley used an iconic image to illustrate the problem global warming. To do this, he depicted a multiply enlarged copy of the Vitruvian Man on the ice in the Arctic Ocean.
15. The original sketch is rarely seen in public.
Copies can be found literally everywhere, but the original is too fragile to be displayed in public. The Vitruvian Man is usually kept under lock and key in the Accademia Gallery in Venice.
Leonardo da Vinci
Vitruvian Man
The golden ratio in art
There is an opinion that a true creator does not create art himself, but allows God or energy (as you like) to direct the brush, merging into a single whole and totally turning into the mystery of creativity.
Little is known about Leonardo da Vinci as a person. There is much more information about him as a mystic, capable of uniting with the whole. His creations in various fields of knowledge and arts say more about him than he himself or those who knew him well could tell. The materials of his works that have come down to us testify to the disclosure of the fundamental principles of beauty by him.
The Vitruvian Man is an illustration of the works of the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius, made by Leonardo da Vinci around 1490-92 in his journal, along with explanations. The figure shows the figure of a naked man in two superimposed poses with arms and legs spread apart, inscribed in a circle and a square.
Combinations of arms and legs make up four poses. A pose with arms spread apart in two positions and legs not spread apart fits into a square, the so-called "Square of the Ancients". Two more poses with arms and legs spread out to the sides, fits into a circle. The center of the figure always remains fixed.
"Vetruvio architetto mette nelle sue opera d'architettura che le misure dell'omo..."“The architect Vetruvius laid the dimensions of man in his architecture ...”
The accompanying notes of Leonardo da Vinci explain that the drawing was created by him to study the proportions of the human body, as described in the treatises of the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius, who wrote the following about the human body:
“Nature disposed of the following proportions in the structure of the human body: 
the length of four fingers is equal to the length of the palm,
four palms are equal to a foot,
six hands make one cubit,
four cubits is the height of a man.
Four cubits are equal to a step, and twenty-four palms are equal to the height of a man.
If you spread your legs so that the distance between them is 1/14 of a human height, and raise your hands so that the middle fingers are at the level of the crown, then the central point of the body, equidistant from all limbs, will be your navel.
The space between the legs apart and the floor forms an equilateral triangle.
Length arms outstretched will be equal to growth.
The distance from the roots of the hair to the tip of the chin is equal to one tenth of human height.
The distance from the top of the chest to the top of the head is 1/6 of the height.
The distance from the upper chest to the roots of the hair is 1/7.
The distance from the nipples to the crown is exactly a quarter of the height.
The greatest width of the shoulders is an eighth of the height.
The distance from the elbow to the fingertips is 1/5 of the height, from the elbow to the armpit is 1/8.
The length of the entire arm is 1/10 of the height.
The beginning of the genitals is located just in the middle of the body.
Foot - 1/7 of the height.
The distance from the toe of the foot to the patella is equal to a quarter of the height, and the distance from the patella to the beginning of the genitals is also equal to a quarter of the height.
The distance from the tip of the chin to the nose and from the roots of the hair to the eyebrows will be the same and, like the length of the ear, equal to 1/3 of the face.
Meaning of the Vitruvian Man
"Everything new is well forgotten old" - says famous saying. The "resurrection" from antiquity of the mathematical proportions of the human body, made by Leonardo da Vinci in the 15th century, became the foundation of the great achievements that preceded the Italian Renaissance. Vitruvian man in itself is a symbol of internal symmetry and natural harmony of the human body.
Any divine manifestation, including art, is inherent in the desire for harmony, proportion, harmony - for such a harmonious state of being, which we used to call beauty. Being ourselves part of the universal energy of beauty, we unmistakably distinguish one from the other. Ugly immediately catches the eye.
We find beauty in the proportions of architecture and sculpture, in the arrangement of surrounding objects and forms, in the combination of colors in paintings, in the alternation of rhymes and rhythm in poetry, in the combinations, sequences and gravity of musical sounds.
In nature and the human body, there are many proportional harmonious relationships close to the golden ratio of Leonardo da Vinci. However, golden ratio is not the only relation visually perceived as beautiful. These include relationships such as 1:2, 1:3. They are also close to the golden ratio.
In any work of art, several unequal, but close to the golden section, parts give the impression of the development of forms, their dynamics, proportional complement to each other. This property is used everywhere and has long been called "canonical proportions".
Each person is able to distinguish the beautiful from the ugly. For example, if he sees a house or some other structure that is not sustained in the proportions of the golden section, then it immediately becomes obvious that "something is wrong with it." Something is embarrassing. This landmark of harmony and a sense of beauty is in everyone.
"All art strives to become music." (Walter Pater)
"The greatness of art is most clearly manifested in music." (Johann Wolfgang Goethe)
How to determine the presence of the golden ratio in something that does not have material forms, in such as music? How to "measure" musical composition by beauty?
In music, the golden ratio reflects the peculiarities of human perception of time proportions. The point of the golden section serves as a reference point in the time of the sound of the work and often the culmination falls on it. Or maybe it's the most bright accent or the quietest "kachum", the most dense and instrumentally saturated in sounding place or the highest pitch, or the place where the crescendo ends, the change of rhythm.
It often happens that a new musical theme appears at the point of the golden ratio.
And as Frank Zappa said, "Talking about music is like dancing about architecture."
Listen...
listen good beautiful music and realize your beauty. Let the music reflect the beauty of the golden ratio of your being. Let there be goosebumps!
Where the music begins, thoughts disappear, the observer and the awareness of beauty appear (unless, of course, you listen to music, and do not use it as white noise as a background).
And the next time you listen to music, pay attention to what you are doing: listening or thinking. Just think of Leonardo.
No related posts.
Vitruvian Man - that's what it's called graphic image naked man in the famous sketch by Leonardo da Vinci. It has been studied for centuries. However, scientists are sure that not all the secrets of the drawing have been revealed yet.
Leonardo da Vinci: Vitruvian Man (Academic Gallery, Venice, Italy)
Being one of the most mysterious and controversial figures of his era, Leonardo da Vinci left behind many secrets. Their meaning still disturbs the scientific minds of the whole world. One of these mysteries is the Vitruvian Man, pencil sketch which has been carefully preserved for centuries. And although a lot is known about him, but experts in the field of art are sure that great discoveries are yet to come.
Vitruvian Man is official name sketch by Leonardo. It was made by him in 1492 and was intended to illustrate a handwritten book. The drawing represents a naked man whose body is inscribed in a circle and a square. In addition, the image has a duality - the human body is depicted in two poses superimposed on each other.
As you can see when examining the drawing, the combination of arm and leg positions actually results in two different positions. A pose with arms spread apart and legs brought together turns out to be inscribed in a square. On the other hand, the pose with arms and legs spread out to the sides is inscribed in a circle. On closer examination, it turns out that the center of the circle is the navel of the figure, and the center of the square is the genitals.
Da Vinci's diary, for which the drawing was intended, is called the Canon of Proportions. The fact is that the artist believed in a certain number "phi", calling it divine. He was sure of the presence of this number in everything created in wildlife. However, da Vinci tried to achieve the “divine proportion” he had deduced in architecture. But this remained one of the unrealized ideas of Leonardo. But the Vitruvian Man is fully depicted in accordance with "phi", that is, in the figure - a model of an ideal creature.
According to Leonardo's accompanying notes, it was created to determine the proportions of the (male) human body, as described in the treatises of the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius; to which Leonardo wrote the following explanations:
- the length from the tip of the longest to the lowest base of the four fingers is equal to the palm
- foot is four palms
- a cubit is six palms
- the height of a person is four cubits from the tips of the fingers (and, accordingly, 24 palms)
- step equals four palms
- the span of human hands is equal to its height
- the distance from the hairline to the chin is 1/10 of its height
- the distance from the crown to the chin is 1/8 of its height
- the distance from the crown to the nipples is 1/4 of its height
- the maximum width of the shoulders is 1/4 of its height
- the distance from the elbow to the tip of the arm is 1/4 of its height
- the distance from the elbow to the armpit is 1/8 of its height
- arm length is 2/5 of its height
- the distance from the chin to the nose is 1/3 of the length of his face
- the distance from the hairline to the eyebrows is 1/3 of the length of his face
- ear length 1/3 face length
- the navel is the center of the circle
The rediscovery of the mathematical proportions of the human body in the 15th century by da Vinci and others was one of the great achievements that preceded the Italian Renaissance.
Subsequently, according to the same methodology, Corbusier compiled his own proportioning scale - Modulor, which influenced the aesthetics of architecture of the 20th century.
The drawing appeared as a result of studying Italian master works of Vitruvius - an outstanding architect ancient rome. In his treatises, the human body was identified with architecture. However, denying this idea, da Vinci developed the idea of the union of three elements in man - art, science and divine principles, that is, a reflection of the Universe.
In addition to a deep philosophical message, the Vitruvian man also has a certain symbolic meaning. The square is interpreted as the material sphere, the circle - the spiritual. The contact of the figures with the body of the depicted person is a kind of intersection in the center of the universe.
On this moment the sketch is kept in the Venice Museum. There is no free access to the relic - the exhibit is exhibited extremely rarely. Those who wish have the opportunity to look at it once every six months, since moving and being in direct light are detrimental to the manuscript, which is almost 500 years old. Most of the da Vinci structures made according to sketches have survived to this day. Those who wish can see the old projects and their current incarnation in Milan, in the Museum of Science of Leonardo da Vinci, located near the Sant'Ambrogio metro station.
Interesting Facts:
- The drawing itself is often used as an implicit symbol of the internal symmetry of the human body and, further, of the Universe as a whole.
- In 2011, Irish aerial artist John Quigley depicted a giant copy of the famous painting "Vitruvian Man" on the ice of the Arctic Ocean in order to draw the attention of mankind to the problems of ecological balance.
- In 2012, reports were published that the first visual image of the “Vitruvian Man” was drawn not by Leonardo, but by his friend Giacomo Andrea da Ferrara, who studied the works of Vitruvius in detail, although his drawing is disproportionately inferior to Leonardo’s drawing in terms of artistic merit.
"Vitruvian Man" - a drawing by the Italian scientist Leonardo da Vinci, which he made for the book of the Roman architect Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, who lived in the first century BC, whose works in the form of a treatise "10 books on architecture" occupied the minds of scientists throughout Europe throughout many centuries.
Artist, scientist, engineer - Leonardo da Vinci
The painting "Vitruvian Man" was painted in 1492. It cannot be counted among paintings famous Florentine, such as "Lady with an Ermine", written in 1490, shortly before the creation of the "Vitruvian Man", or " The Last Supper", which was released in 1498. And even more so, comparison is impossible with the ingenious "La Gioconda", created in the period from 1505 to 1519.
canons
Drawing by Leonardo da Vinci reveals in detail fundamental principles canonical proportions man, which in a certain way correlate with the architectural norms derived by Vitruvius. There are six in total:
- Ordinatio - absolute order order or consistency. Vitruvius describes the general architectural principles, the formation of volume, the basis of dimensional relationships and proportions. Further, the scientist gives his famous triad: venustas - beauty, utilitas - benefit, firmitas - structural strength.
- Dispositio - basis, local placement. A description of the principles of organization of space and the location of the object in three-dimensional format follows.
- Eurythmia - determination of the most aesthetic proportions, the composition is being specified.
- Symmetria - this category suggests the relationship of the architectural module with parts of the human body.
- Decor - decorative and colorful, combined with order strictness in the arrangement of elements.
- Distributio - a description of the methods that determine the economic side of the operation of the facility.
Geometry
The painting "Vitruvian Man" by Leonardo da Vinci became an illustration for the multi-volume treatise of Vitruvius, combining treatise and a work of art all in one. The figure shows a person in two guises: one position - with legs and arms spread apart - is inscribed in a circle, the second - with arms spread and legs brought together - is inscribed in a square. Moreover, both geometric figures organically correlate with each other, despite the fact that they are directly in contact at one lower point, and in six more - only indirectly.
"Vitruvian Man" - the most famous picture Leonardo da Vinci after La Gioconda. The value of a drawing is determined by engineering criteria. The human pose "legs together, arms apart" fits into geometric figure, which is called the "Square of the Ancients", and a person with spread legs and arms fits into a circle. At the same time, it is a regularity that the center of the figure in both cases falls on one point, which in everyday life is called the "navel", that is, the place where the umbilical cord leaves at the birth of a person.
Calculations
Here is what the "Vitruvian Man" looks like, the significance of which cannot be overestimated, from the point of view of mathematical analysis:
- The distance from the tip of the middle finger to the base of the little finger is equal to the length of the palm.
- The length of the foot is equal to the width of four palms.
- Six palms are equal to the length of a cubit.
- The height of a man of average height is 4 cubits or 24 hands.
- A step is equal to one elbow and one palm.
- Hands in a span equal to the height of a person.
- The distance from the level of the hair on the head to the lower edge of the chin is 1/10 of the height.
- The distance from the bottom line of the chin to the top of the head is 1/8 of the height.
- The distance from the crown to the nipples is 1/4 of the height.
- Shoulder width - 1/4 height.
- The length from the elbow to the fingertips is 1/4 of the height.
- The distance from the elbow to the armpit is 1/8 of the height.
- Arm length - 2/5 height.
- The distance from the nose to the lower edge of the chin is one third of the length of the face.
- From the eyebrows to the hairline - a third of the length of the face.
- The vertical size of the auricles is 1/3 of the length of the face.
Symbolism
The "Vitruvian Man" by Leonardo da Vinci is often used as a symbol of the symmetry of the human body.
A close examination of the drawing reveals four clearly marked positions of the human body and two dominant compositions. The first is the center of the figure located in a circle, this is the "navel" of a person, as a symbol of birth. The second - the center of the body, placed in a square, falls on the genitals and serves as a symbol of procreation.
"Vitruvian Man" is presented by Leonardo da Vinci as the personification of the universe and is considered the forerunner of Italian Renaissance. Later, the French architect Corbusier successfully used the theory of proportions of the human body to create his own Modulor system, which is responsible for the convenience and ergonomics of housing. In 1952, the architect built a multi-storey residential building in Marseille, following the teachings of Vitruvius and the "Modulor" in its practical application.
Shroud
There is also an assumption that the drawing "Vitruvian Man" is an image of Christ on the holy shroud, which Leonardo da Vinci transferred to paper during the restoration of the relic. This version has the right to life, since it is known for certain that the keepers of the shroud with the image of Christ handed it over to the scientist for restoration.
Being impressed by the divine proportions appearing on the shrine, da Vinci created his masterpiece and thus placed man as the image of God in the center of the Universe. And today "Vitruvian Man", the meaning of the creation and existence of which goes far beyond artistic image, symbolizes man in the universe and is an example ideal proportions for architecture.
Leonardo da Vinci and his Vitruvian Man.
The Vitruvian Man is a drawing made by Leonardo Da Vinci around 1490-1492 as an illustration for a book dedicated to the works of Vitruvius. The drawing is accompanied by explanatory inscriptions in one of his journals. It depicts the figure of a naked man in two superimposed positions: with arms outstretched to the sides, describing a circle and a square. Drawing and text are sometimes referred to as canonical proportions.
1. Leonardo never intended to flaunt his "Vitruvian Man"
Leonardo da Vinci.
The sketch was discovered in one of the Renaissance master's personal notebooks. In fact, Leonardo drew a sketch for his own research and did not even suspect that he would someday be admired. However, Vitruvian Man is one of the artist's most famous works today, along with The Last Supper and Mona Lisa.
2. Combination of art and science
Being a true representative of the Renaissance, Leonardo was not only a painter, sculptor and writer, but also an inventor, architect, engineer, mathematician and an expert in anatomy. This ink drawing was the result of Leonardo's study of the theories of human proportions described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius.
3. Leonardo wasn't the first to try to illustrate Vitruvius' theories
As modern scholars believe, there were many people in the 15th century and subsequent decades who tried to capture this idea in visual form.
4. Perhaps the drawing was made not only by Leonardo himself
In 2012, the Italian architectural historian Claudio Sgarbi published findings that Leonardo's study of human body proportions was prompted by a similar study done by his friend and fellow architect Giacomo Andrea de Ferrara. It is still unclear if they worked together. Even if this theory is incorrect, historians agree that Leonardo perfected the shortcomings of Giacomo's work.
5. The circle and the square have their own hidden meaning.
In their mathematical studies, Vitruvius and Leonardo described not only the proportions of man, but also the proportions of the entire creation. In a notebook of 1492, Leonardo's entry was found: “Ancient man was the world in miniature. Since man is made up of earth, water, air and fire, his body resembles a microcosm of the universe."
6. "Vitruvian Man" is just one of many sketches
In order to improve his art and better understand how the world around him works, Leonardo painted many people in order to form an idea of ideal proportions.
7. Vitruvian man - the ideal of a man
Who served as a model will remain a mystery, but art historians believe that Leonardo took some liberties in his drawing. This work was not so much a portrait as a conscientious depiction of ideal male forms from the point of view of mathematics.
8. It could be a self-portrait
Since no descriptions of the model from which this sketch was drawn have been preserved, some art historians believe that Leonardo painted the Vitruvian Man from himself.
9 The Vitruvian Man Had A Hernia
Khutan Ashrafyan, a surgeon at Imperial College London, 521 years after the creation of the famous drawing, established that the person depicted in the sketch had an inguinal hernia, which could lead to his death.
10. To understand the full meaning of the picture, you need to read the notes to it.
When the sketch was originally discovered in Lernardo's notebook, next to it were the artist's notes on human proportions, which read: "The architect Vitruvius states in his work on architecture that the measurements of the human body are distributed according to the following principle: the width of 4 fingers is equal to 1 is 4 palms, a cubit is 6 palms, the full height of a person is 4 cubits or 24 palms ... Vitruvius used the same measurements in the construction of his buildings.
11. The body is lined with measured lines
If you look closely at the chest, arms and face of a person in the drawing, you can see straight lines that mark the proportions that Leonardo wrote about in his notes. For example, the part of the face from the bottom of the nose to the eyebrows is a third of the face, as is the part of the face from the bottom of the nose to the chin and from the eyebrows to the line where the hair begins to grow.
12. The sketch has other, less esoteric names.
The sketch is also called "The Canon of Proportions" or "The Proportions of a Man".
13. The Vitruvian Man does 16 poses at the same time.
At first glance, only two poses can be seen: a standing person who has moved his legs and spread his arms, and a standing person with legs apart and arms raised. But part of the genius of Leonardo's depiction is that 16 poses are depicted simultaneously in one drawing.
14. Leonardo da Vinci's creation was used to represent the problems of our time.
Irish artist John Quigley used an iconic image to illustrate the problem of global warming. To do this, he depicted a multiply enlarged copy of the Vitruvian Man on the ice in the Arctic Ocean.
15. The original sketch is rarely seen in public.
Copies can be found literally everywhere, but the original is too fragile to be displayed in public. The Vitruvian Man is usually kept under lock and key in the Accademia Gallery in Venice.
