The artist and science
Excerpt from the book 'Leonardo da Vinci - The Complete Paintings and Drawings' by Frank Zöllner
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That same year, or not long afterwards, he began compiling a systematic record of the measurements of a number of young men, two of whom are even identified by name as Trezzo and Caravaggio. He proceeded to record their measurements-from the tips of the toes to the top of their heads-in notes and sketches (Cat. 226-247/ill. p. 106, 110/111). During virtually exactly the same period he was also taking measurements of the horses owned by his patron Ludovico il Moro (Cat. 248-254). After what must have been months of taking measurements, therefore, Leonardo arrived at an almost complete overview of human proportions, at which point he then started to look at the proportions of sitting and kneeling figures. Finally, he compared the results of his anthropometric studies-i. e. studies involving the systematic measuring of the proportions of the human body-with the only investigation of human proportions to survive from antiquity, namely the Vitruvian Man.
Vitruvius (c. 80-c. 20 BC), an only moderately successful architect and engineer during the days of the Roman Empire, wrote a treatise on architecture that included in its third volume a description of the complete measurements of the human body. These led him to conclude that a man with legs and arms outstretched could be inscribed within the perfect geometric figures of the circle and the square alike. These two figures are usually referred to as the homo ad circulum and the homo ad quadratum, and also as the Vitruvian Man. According to Vitruvius's theory, the centre of the human body as inscribed within the square and circle coincided with the navel. Vitruvius's findings were taken up again during the Renaissance and in subsequent epochs and illustrated with widely differing results. Best known is the drawing by Leonardo (Cat. 246/ill. p. 105); rather more notorious is the later woodcut by the Milanese surveyor Cesare Cesariano (1483-1543), showing a figure who not only has a noteworthy erection but also enormous hands and strikingly long feet (ill. p. 104). Like several authors before and after him, Cesariano interpreted Vitruvius's description from the point of view of the geometry of medieval architecture and related the two figures, circle and square, directly to each other, i. e. the square is exactly contained within the circle. In order for the figure to fit inside this geometric construction, however, it has to stretch out considerably-hence the huge hands and elongated feet.
Leonardo, by contrast, did not orient himself towards the geometric relationship between the circle and the square, and in his drawing these two geometric figures are not forcibly related. Rather, he corrected inconsistencies in Vitruvius's proportions on the basis of his own measurements, drawing on the proportions of the human body that he had established by first-hand, empirical observation. Thus the hands and feet in Leonardo's diagram revert to their appropriate size. Only the centre of the homo ad circulum now coincides with the navel, whereas the centre of the homo ad quadratum is located just above the genitals.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
That same year, or not long afterwards, he began compiling a systematic record of the measurements of a number of young men, two of whom are even identified by name as Trezzo and Caravaggio. He proceeded to record their measurements-from the tips of the toes to the top of their heads-in notes and sketches (Cat. 226-247/ill. p. 106, 110/111). During virtually exactly the same period he was also taking measurements of the horses owned by his patron Ludovico il Moro (Cat. 248-254). After what must have been months of taking measurements, therefore, Leonardo arrived at an almost complete overview of human proportions, at which point he then started to look at the proportions of sitting and kneeling figures. Finally, he compared the results of his anthropometric studies-i. e. studies involving the systematic measuring of the proportions of the human body-with the only investigation of human proportions to survive from antiquity, namely the Vitruvian Man.
Vitruvius (c. 80-c. 20 BC), an only moderately successful architect and engineer during the days of the Roman Empire, wrote a treatise on architecture that included in its third volume a description of the complete measurements of the human body. These led him to conclude that a man with legs and arms outstretched could be inscribed within the perfect geometric figures of the circle and the square alike. These two figures are usually referred to as the homo ad circulum and the homo ad quadratum, and also as the Vitruvian Man. According to Vitruvius's theory, the centre of the human body as inscribed within the square and circle coincided with the navel. Vitruvius's findings were taken up again during the Renaissance and in subsequent epochs and illustrated with widely differing results. Best known is the drawing by Leonardo (Cat. 246/ill. p. 105); rather more notorious is the later woodcut by the Milanese surveyor Cesare Cesariano (1483-1543), showing a figure who not only has a noteworthy erection but also enormous hands and strikingly long feet (ill. p. 104). Like several authors before and after him, Cesariano interpreted Vitruvius's description from the point of view of the geometry of medieval architecture and related the two figures, circle and square, directly to each other, i. e. the square is exactly contained within the circle. In order for the figure to fit inside this geometric construction, however, it has to stretch out considerably-hence the huge hands and elongated feet.
Leonardo, by contrast, did not orient himself towards the geometric relationship between the circle and the square, and in his drawing these two geometric figures are not forcibly related. Rather, he corrected inconsistencies in Vitruvius's proportions on the basis of his own measurements, drawing on the proportions of the human body that he had established by first-hand, empirical observation. Thus the hands and feet in Leonardo's diagram revert to their appropriate size. Only the centre of the homo ad circulum now coincides with the navel, whereas the centre of the homo ad quadratum is located just above the genitals.
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]
Leonardo da Vinci - The Complete Paintings and Drawings
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Da Vinci in detail: Leonardo's life and work - the definitive edition. All pictures, all drawings!
Sheet of Studies with Multi-barrelled Guns, c. 1482 (?)