Page 278 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

175 the bottom of the chin is a tenth of the height of 176
Leonardo da Vinci the man; from the bottom of the chin to the top Leonardo da Vinci
Florentine, 1452-1519 of the head is an eighth of the height of the man; Florentine, 1452-1519
from the top of the breast to the top of the head is
STUDY OF HUMAN PROPORTION a sixth of the man; from the top of the breast to NUDE MAN FROM THE REAR
IN THE MANNER OF VITRUVIUS the start of the hair is a seventh part of the whole
man; from the nipples to the top of the head is a c. 1503-1506
c. 1490 quarter part of the man; the widest distance across red chalk on paper
l
5
pen, brown ink, wash, and red chalk on paper the shoulders contains in itself a quarter part of 27 x 16 (io /s x 6 /4)
5
34-3 X 24.5 (1^/2 X 9 /8J the man; from the elbow to the tip of the hand inscribed: franc sinsstre sonat[ore]...
inscribed with notes on proportions will be a fifth part of the man; from this elbow to references: Popham 194.6, 233; Clark and Pedretti
references: Popham 1946, 215; Morgan 1960; 1968-1969, 12596; Keele and Pedretti 1979-1980,
Cogliati Arano 1966/1980; Richter 1970/1977, 343; the edge of the shoulder is an eighth part of this £41-; Kemp 1989, 302, 338; London 1989, 32
Zollner 1987; Kemp 1989, 309 man; the whole hand is a tenth part of the man; Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth n, Royal Library,
the penis arises at the middle of the man; the foot
Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice is a seventh part of the man; from the sole of the Windsor Castle
foot to below the knee is a quarter part of the
This large and spectacular sheet (Venice 228) man; from below the knee to the start of the penis This magnificent study (Windsor 12596) of a
was clearly drawn by Leonardo as a definitive is a quarter part of the man; the portions that are thick-set, muscular man is related in general
demonstration of the overall proportional system to be found between the chin and the nose and terms to Leonardo's work on the Battle of
in the human body. It belongs with the research between the start of the hair and to the eyebrows Anghiari, the huge mural he was planning in the
he was conducting around 1490. The organizing are both spaces similar in themselves to the ear period 1503-1506 for the Council Hall of the
principle of the drawing, the inscription of the and are a third of the face" (Richter 1970/1977, Florentine republic in competition with Michel-
figure within a circle and a square, is based upon 343; Kemp 1989, 309). angelo's Battle of Cascina. The two artists' ren-
the prescription of the ancient Roman architect, In addition to the compass marks needed for dering of heroic figures at this time set the norm
Vitruvius: "In the human body the central point drawing the circle and mapping out the main divi- for contemporary and subsequent generations of
is naturally the navel. For if a man be placed flat sions of the figure, numerous other small inden- artists. The static and symmetrical pose of this
on his back with his hands and feet extended, and tations caused by the points of dividers pockmark figure, however, was not suitable for the Battle
a pair of compasses centered on his navel, the fin- the drawing. The vertical axis of the head exhibits but corresponds to the formula Leonardo was
gers and toes of his two hands and feet will touch particularly dense clusters of indentations. These adopting at this time for his demonstrations of
the circumference of a circle described therefrom. marks appear to reflect detailed measurements human musculature (Windsor 12593-12594^
And just as the human body yields a circular out- that were taken from the drawing rather than I2629r-i263ir). The lightly drawn central ver-
line, so too a square figure may be found from it. used to lay out the forms. The results are recorded tical and the triangular disposition of the legs
For if we measure the distance from the soles of in Leonardo's notes below the drawing, quoted
the feet to the top of the head, and then apply that above. It appears that the drawing was the first
measure to the outstretched arms, the breadth element to be set out on the page, followed
will be found to be the same as the height, as in by the scale and caption below the illustration.
the case of plane surfaces which are perfectly The upper and lower notes were then written into
square" (Morgan 1960, 73). Vitruvius then pro- the remaining spaces with a neatness unusual
ceeds to discuss the proportions of the parts of the for Leonardo.
figure in terms of fractions of the whole. Leo- Subsequent illustrations of "Vitruvian men"
nardo acknowledges his Vitruvian source of by theorists and editors of Vitruvius in Italy and
inspiration but incorporates his own detailed northern Europe suggest that Leonardo's particu-
observations and improves the formula by incor- lar interpretation of the Roman author's formula
porating alternative positions for the arms and was widely influential (Zollner 1987). Perhaps
legs. "Vitruvius the architect has it in his work on the most remarkable development of Leonardo's
architecture that the measurements of man are vision occurs in the Codex Huygens by Carlo
arranged by nature in the following manner: four Urbino da Crema (Pierpont Morgan Library, New
fingers make one palm and four palms make one York), in which Leonardo's alternative positions
foot; six palms make a cubit; four cubits make a for the arms and legs are translated into a series of
man, and four cubits make one pace; and twenty- sequential or "cinematographic" poses, in keeping
four palms make a man; and these measures are with Leonardo's own notions of movement across
those of his buildings. If you open your legs so "continuous quantity" in space. M.K.
that you lower your head by one fourteenth of
your height, and open and raise your arms so that
with your longest fingers you touch the level of
the top of your head, you should know that the
central point between the extremities of the out-
stretched limbs will be the navel, and the space
that is described by the legs is an equilateral tri-
angle." He adds, below the figure, "The span to
which the man opens his arms is equivalent to his
height. From the start of the hair to the margin of

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