Da Vinci drawing of a man in a circle. Leonardo da Vinci

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Vitruvian Man - that's what it's called graphic image naked man in the famous sketch by Leonardo da Vinci. It has been studied for centuries. However, scientists are confident that not all the secrets of the drawing have been revealed.

Leonardo da Vinci: Vitruvian Man (Gallery Accademia, Venice, Italy)

Being one of the most mysterious and controversial figures of his era, Leonardo da Vinci left behind many secrets. Their meaning still worries scientific minds around the world. One of these mysteries is the Vitruvian Man, a pencil sketch of which has been carefully preserved for centuries. And although a lot is known about him, art experts are confident that great discoveries are yet to come.

Vitruvian Man is the official title of Leonardo's sketch. It was made by him in 1492 and was intended to illustrate handwritten book. The drawing represents a naked man whose body is inscribed in a circle and a square. In addition, the image has duality - the human torso is depicted in two poses superimposed on each other.

As you can see by examining the drawing, the combination of hand and foot positions actually produces two different positions. The pose with arms spread to the sides and legs brought together turns out to be inscribed in a square. On the other hand, a pose with arms and legs spread out to the sides is inscribed in a circle. Upon more detailed examination, it turns out that the center of the circle is the navel of the figure, and the center of the square is the genitals.

Da Vinci's diary, for which the drawing was intended, is called the “Canon of Proportions.” The fact is that the artist believed in a certain number “phi”, calling it divine. He was confident in the presence of this number in everything created in living nature. However, da Vinci tried to achieve the " divine proportion"in architecture. But this remained one of Leonardo’s unrealized ideas. But the Vitruvian Man is completely depicted in accordance with “phi”, that is, the picture shows a model of an ideal being.

According to Leonardo's accompanying notes, it was created to determine the proportions of the (male) human body, as described in the treatises of the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius; to which Leonardo wrote the following explanations:

• the length from the tip of the longest to the lowest base of the four fingers is equal to the palm
• the foot is four palms
• a cubit is six palms
• the height of a person is four cubits from the tips of the fingers (and accordingly 24 palms)
• a step equals four palms
• the span of human arms is equal to his height
• the distance from the hairline to the chin is 1/10 of its height
• the distance from the top of the head to the chin is 1/8 of its height
• the distance from the top of the head to the nipples is 1/4 of its height
• maximum shoulder width is 1/4 of its height
• the distance from the elbow to the tip of the hand is 1/4 of its height
• the distance from the elbow to the armpit is 1/8 of its height
• arm length is 2/5 of its height
• the distance from the chin to the nose is 1/3 of the length of his face
• the distance from the hairline to the eyebrows is 1/3 of the length of his face
• Ear length 1/3 face length
• the navel is the center of the circle

Reopening mathematical proportions the human body in the 15th century, made by da Vinci and other scientists, was one of the great achievements that preceded the Italian Renaissance.

Subsequently, using the same method, Corbusier created his own scale of proportionation - Modulor, which influenced the aesthetics of 20th-century architecture.

The drawing appeared as a result of studying Italian master works of Vitruvius - the outstanding architect of Ancient Rome. In his treatises, the human body was identified with architecture. However, denying this idea, da Vinci developed the idea of ​​combining three elements in man - art, science and the divine, that is, a reflection of the Universe.

In addition to a deep philosophical message, the Vitruvian Man also has a certain symbolic meaning. The square is interpreted as material sphere, circle - spiritual. The contact of the figures with the body of the depicted person is a kind of intersection in the center of the universe.

On this moment the sketch is kept in the Venice Museum. Free access no to the relic - the exhibit is exhibited extremely rarely. Those who wish have the opportunity to look at it once every six months, since moving and being in direct light are detrimental to a manuscript that is almost 500 years old. Most of the structures made according to da Vinci's sketches have survived to this day. Anyone can see ancient projects and their modern implementation in Milan, at the Leonardo da Vinci Museum of Science, located near the Sant'Ambrogio metro station.

Interesting Facts:

• The drawing itself is often used as an implicit symbol of the internal symmetry of the human body and, further, the Universe as a whole.
• In 2011, Irish aerial artist John Quigley depicted a giant copy of it on the ice of the Arctic Ocean. famous drawing"Vitruvian Man" in order to attract humanity's attention to the problems of ecological balance.
• In 2012, reports were published that the first visual image of the “Vitruvian Man” was not drawn by Leonardo, but by his friend Giacomo Andrea da Ferrara, who studied the works of Vitruvius in detail - although his drawing is disproportionately inferior to Leonardo’s in terms of artistic merit.

Leonardo da Vinci and his Vitruavian Man.

The Vitruvian Man is a drawing made by Leonardo Da Vinci around 1490-1492, as an illustration for a book dedicated to the works of Vitruvius. The drawing is accompanied by explanatory notes in one of his journals. It depicts the figure of a naked man in two superimposed positions: with his arms spread to the sides, describing a circle and a square. The drawing and text are sometimes called canonical proportions.

1. Leonardo never intended to show off his Vitruvian Man.

Leonardo da Vinci.

The sketch was discovered in one of the personal notebooks of the Renaissance master. In fact, Leonardo drew the sketch for his own research and did not even suspect that he would one day be admired. However, today "The Vitruvian Man" is one of the most famous works artist, along with “The Last Supper” and “Mona Lisa”.

2. Combining art and science

A true representative of the Renaissance, Leonardo was not only a painter, sculptor and writer, but also an inventor, architect, engineer, mathematician and anatomy expert. This ink drawing was the result of Leonardo's study of theories about human proportions described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius.

3. Leonardo wasn’t the first to try to illustrate Vitruvius’ theories.

Modern scholars believe that in the 15th century and subsequent decades there were many people who tried to express this idea in visual form.

4. Perhaps the drawing was not only made by Leonardo himself

In 2012, Italian architectural historian Claudio Sgarbi published findings that Leonardo's research into the proportions of the human body was prompted by similar research done by his friend and fellow architect Giacomo Andrea de Ferrara. It is still unclear whether they worked together. Even if this theory is incorrect, historians agree that Leonardo improved on the shortcomings of Giacomo's work.

5. Circle and square have their own hidden meaning

In their mathematical studies, Vitruvius and Leonardo described not only the proportions of man, but also the proportions of all creation. Leonardo wrote in a notebook from 1492: “ Ancient man was a world in miniature. Since man is composed of earth, water, air and fire, his body resembles a microcosm of the Universe.”

6. “The Vitruvian Man” is just one of many sketches

In order to improve his art and better understand how the world around him worked, Leonardo painted many people to form an idea of ​​ideal proportions.

7. Vitruvian Man - the ideal man

Who served as the model will remain a mystery, but art historians believe that Leonardo took some liberties in his drawing. This work was not so much a portrait as a conscientious depiction of ideal male forms from a mathematical point of view.

8. It could be a self-portrait

Since there are no descriptions of the model from which this sketch was drawn, some art historians believe that Leonardo drew the “Vitruvian Man” from himself.

9. The Vitruvian Man Had a Hernia

Imperial College London surgeon Hutan Ashrafyan, 521 years after the creation of the famous drawing, established that the man depicted in the sketch had an inguinal hernia, which could lead to his death.

10. To understand the full meaning of the drawing, you need to read the notes to it

When the sketch was originally discovered in Lernardo's notebook, next to it were the artist's notes regarding human proportions, which read: “The architect Vitruvius states in his work on architecture that the dimensions of the human body are distributed according to the following principle: the width of 4 fingers is equal to 1 palm, foot is 4 palms, a cubit is 6 palms, the full height of a person is 4 cubits or 24 palms... Vitruvius used the same measurements in the construction of his buildings.”

11. The body is drawn with measuring lines

If you look closely at the chest, arms and face of the person in the drawing, you will notice straight lines marking the proportions that Leonardo wrote about in his notes. For example, the part of the face from the bottom of the nose to the eyebrows makes up a third of the face, as does the part of the face from the bottom of the nose to the chin and from the eyebrows to the line where the hair begins to grow.

12. The sketch has other, less esoteric names

The sketch is also called the “Canon of Proportions” or “Proportions of a Man.”

13. Vitruvian Man poses 16 poses at once

At first glance, you can see only two poses: standing man, who has his legs together and his arms outstretched, and a standing man with his legs spread and his arms raised. But part of the genius of Leonardo's depiction is that there are 16 poses depicted simultaneously in one drawing.

14. Leonardo da Vinci's creation was used to depict modern problems

Irish artist John Quigley used the iconic image to illustrate the issue of global warming. To do this, he depicted a many times enlarged copy of the Vitruvian Man on the ice in the Arctic Ocean.

15. The original sketch rarely appears in public

Copies can be found literally everywhere, but the original is too fragile to be displayed in public. The Vitruvian Man is kept under lock and key in the Galleria dell'Accademia in Venice.