Vitruvian Man and Renaissance art theory

Vitruvian Man

The concept of the Vitruvian Man has its origins not with Leonardo da Vinci, as many may belief, given the fact that his name is usually associated with the famous image of the Vitruvian Man, but with a Roman architect, Marcus Vitruvius, who published a treatise on architecture in 1 BCE, referred to as De Architectura. The concept of the Vitruvian Man is presented in Book III, where Marcus Vitruvius points out that "in the members of a temple there ought to be the greatest harmony in the symmetrical relations of the different parts to the general magnitude of the whole," continuing throughout the subsequent paragraph in showing that the proportions of man are scientifically determined and related one with the other.

Vitruvius, as a true Pythagorean, interested in figures and numbers, the relationship between these and how they affect one's existence, used the proportions between the different parts of the body as a mean of designing and constructing temples during the Roman times and in proposing a human model approach to temple construction, with this model being believed to be a true expression of perfection during his time.

The justification that Vitruvius used to explain this perfection was related to the two geometric forms believed to be perfect during Antiquity: the square and the circle. In Vitruvius's explanations, a human individual could perfectly fit into both these two shapes, with his legs and arms outstretched. This gave a perfect explanation for why the human body was perfectly proportioned.

The Renaissance period brought about a return to some of the values and perceptions of the Antiquity, as individuals, coming out of the Middle Ages, began to rediscover the values of the past. This is how Leonardo da Vinci, a true man of the Renaissance, with diverse interests going from painting to medicine and to anatomy, including human proportions, as well as architectural proportions, discovered the Vitruvian Man, as it was included in the architecture books by Vitruvius.

The idea of architectural proportions, as related to the human body, were translated by Leonardo da Vinci into the drawing of the Vitruvian Man, aimed at becoming and showing the perfection of man. He puts into drawing the proportions mentioned in Vitruvius's book De Architectura, notably in book 3, chapter I, 2nd paragraph: "The human body that the face from the chin to the top of the forehead and the roots of the hair is a tenth part; also the palm of the hand from the wrist to the top of the middle finger is as much; the head from the chin to the crown, an eighth part; from the top of the breast with the bottom of the neck to the roots of the hair, a sixth part." The paragraph continues in a similar manner providing the appropriate proportions between each of the human body parts.

The sensation of movement comes from the fact that the individual is projected both in the circle and the square, which also creates an interesting sensation of movement, as the individual seems to be moving his hands between the two positions fixed on the circle and square. However, the projection also shows the viewer that the man's arm span is generally equal to his height. At the same time, besides the proportions analysis, some theoreticians have also looked into Da Vinci's view on angles in the Vitruvian Man. The sine and cosine of some of these angles are related to the golden ratio, estimated at 1.618.

The geometric correlations and proportions that derive from all these numerical relations formed between the different parts of the body, as well as the relations with the circle and square are numerous. One of the interesting one relates two squares that can be drawn within the circle, containing the image of the man, one square horizontally and one vertically. These two squares form in their intersections a distinct octagram. According to the relations between the horizontal square and its vertical projection, these form a Pell's series. However, starting from this, Leonardo was able to use this conclusion in his mathematics work and "rationalize irrational geometry of square root of 2."

The rationalization mentioned in the previous paragraph is not only related to the proportions that exist between the different body parts, but also to the easiness with which the square and circle can be constructed and how these two perfect geometric shapes are correlated. As such, the drawing initially starts with the square. If rotated by 45 degrees, the square will result in a vertical geometric projection of itself. The difference between the extremity of the projected square and the side of the initial square will form the diameter of the circle. Calculated in palms, the area of the circle is 660 palms, while the area of the square is 576 palms. This makes for the differences between the two areas 84 palms, important because of the relevance of the figure 4 as a mystic number.

Much of the manuscript containing the drawing of the Vitruvian Man suggests the mystical importance that Leonardo attributed to the existent proportions in the human body. The text itself was written in mirror writing and Leonardo's idea with the Vitruvian Man was to interrelate man and nature, to project internally, from nature to the individual the existent proportions at a macrocosmic level. At the same time, his aim was also to conduct the study at a microcosmic level, much easier to perform, and then extrapolate his findings in nature, understanding that the realities in existence at the level of the human individual may also be valid in a macro perspective.