the Man of Vitruve (or man vitruvien ) is the name commonly given to the sketch Étude of proportions of the human body according to Vitruve carried out by Léonard de Vinci in the neighborhoods of 1492.

This pen-and-ink drawing belonged to the collection of works of graphic art of Giuseppe Bossia before being repurchased in 1822 by the Gallerie dell' Accademia of Venice .

Characteristics of work

This page of Vinci contains the well-known drawing, but also a text of which it is l'" it; , which details the proportions of the human body such as Vinci could observe them: it is not an ideal man, but the geometrical model of a normal man. The bond between the drawing and the text is done by a scale located in bottom of the drawing, graduated in fingers and paumes.
Contrary to what is often affirmed, there is no trace of the Golden section in the drawing or the texte.
To arrive at its proportions, Vinci, which is a remarkable observer and painter of Nature, started from what he saw, and not Présupposé mathematical or mystical.

A translation of the text of the page of Vinci

Vitruve the architect said, in his work on architecture, that Nature distributed measurements of the human body like this.

Four fingers make a palm, and four palms make a foot, six palms do one bent: four bent make the height of a man. And four bent take a step, and twenty four palms make a man; and it used these measures to its constructions.

If you open the legs in order to lower your height of a fourteenth, and if you extend your arms so that the end of your fingers is on the level of the top of your head, you must know that the center of your wide members will be with the navel, and that space between your legs will be an equilateral triangle.

the length of the wide arms of a man is equal to his height.

Since the root of the hair until the bottom of the chin, there is a tenth height of a man. Since the bottom of the chin until the top of the head, a eighth. Since the top of the chest until the top of the head, a sixth; since the top of the chest to the root of hair, a seventh.

Since the nipples until the top of the head, a quarter breast height. The greatest width of the shoulders is contained in the quarter of a man. Since the elbow until the end of the hand, a fifth. Since the elbow until the angle of before arm, a eighth.

the complete hand is a tenth of the man. The beginning of the genitals is in the medium. The foot is a seventh of the man. Since the plant of the foot until in lower part of the knee, a quarter of the man. Since under the knee until the beginning of the genitals, a quarter of the man.

the distance from the bottom of the chin to the nose, and the roots of the hair to the eyebrows is the same one, as well as the ear: a third of the face.

See also

• Anatomy
• Rebirth

External bonds

• Site of the Gallery dell' Accademia of Venice.

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