Page 280 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

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Leonardo da Vinci
Florentine, 1452-1519
STUDIES OF THE PROPORTIONS
OF THE HUMAN HEAD AND EYE

c. 1490
pen and brown ink on paper
3
1
3
19.7 x 16 and 14 x 11 (y /4 x 6 /* and 5^2 x 4 /s)
inscribed with notes on proportions
references: Richter 1970/1977, 319-320;
Pedretti 1975, 4-5
Biblioteca Reale, Turin
Following Carlo Pedretti's (1975) recognition that
these two sheets (Turin 15574,15576) were once
part of a single page, they have been reconstituted
in their original relationship. These studies of
human proportion belong to a series of researches
exclusively concerned with male figures, con-
ducted around 1490. This particular facial type —
that of a mature or even elderly "warrior" — is
shared by Leonardo's famous "Vitruvian Man"
(cat. 175) and became his standard physiognomy
for a virile male. The study of the eye on the left
portion of the page is shaded with a degree of care 179
that is unusual in his studies of proportion and Leonardo da Vinci of sight over the other senses, and his depiction
may indicate that it was drawn from life, to con- Florentine, 1452-1519 of the eye as an extrusion of the coverings of the
firm the measurements. brain illustrates his concept of the eye as "the
Leonardo extended the traditional system of VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL window of the soul/' The eye itself is depicted as
proportions, derived from the writings of Vitru- SECTIONS OF THE HUMAN HEAD, a geometrically designed organ with a spherical
vius, by undertaking a minutely detailed analysis WITH THE COVERING LAYERS lens, as was traditional. Within the brain is a set
of the relationships between all the components of COMPARED TO AN ONION of three linked flasks or "ventricles," within which
the body, however small and however distant from the various mental faculties, or "inner senses,"
one another. On this page he is chiefly concerned c. 1489 were thought to be located. Leonardo works his
with understanding how the small intervals pen, brown ink, and red chalk on paper own variation on this conventional concept. He
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between the parts of the eye, eyelid, and eyebrow 20.6x14.8 (SVsx 5 / 8)
can be related to other intervals in the head, inscribed with notes on the layers of the scalp, skull,
particularly the dimensions of the mouth and and brain Popham 1946, 227; Clark and Pedretti
references:
nose. The notes in the lower left quarter of the 1968-1969, 12603; Keele and Pedretti 1979-1980,
right portion exemplify his approach, stating that 327*; London 1989, 94
"n, m, o, p, q are equivalent to half the width of
the lids of the eyes, that is to say from the lacri- Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth n, Royal Library,
mator [inner corner] of the eye to its outer edge. Windsor Castle
And similarly the division that there is between
the chin and the mouth, and similarly the nar- Leonardo's earliest surviving studies of internal
rowest part of the nose between one and the other anatomy are the series of skull drawings, one of
eye. And each of these distances in itself is a 9th which (Windsor 19059) is dated 1489. Although
part of the head, nm is equivalent to the length of the present sheet (Windsor 12603), which illus-
the eye or the distance between the eyes, me is trates traditional concepts of the brain and the
one third of nm, measuring from the outer senses, seems to differ sharply in approach from
margin of the eyelids to the letter c. bs will be the very direct observation of firsthand material
equivalent to the width of the nostrils of the nose." in the skull drawings, it belongs to the same cam-
The verso of the reconstituted page contains paign of investigating the design and function of
some relatively slight mechanical drawings, the human head. It shares with the demonstra-
probably representing devices for the making tions of the skull the innovative use of sections,
of screw threads. M.K. although the combination of a vertical section
with externally viewed nose, mouth, and chin in
the main drawing appears rather uncomfortable.
Not the least of Leonardo's concerns in the 1489
investigations was to demonstrate the superiority

EUROPE AND THE MEDITERRANEAN WORLD 279