The Vitruvian Man is the name of a
drawing made by Leonardo da Vinci in
the 1400s. Leonardo Da Vinci believed
that the human body was the
“blueprint” for perfection in nature
Each separate part was a simple fraction of the whole.
For example, the head measured from the forehead to
the chin was exactly one tenth of the total height, and
the outstretched arms were always as wide as the body
was tall.
Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man has
come to represent the intersection of art
and science because of the mathematical
ratios that he used
• Ratio of height to arm span (1:1)
• Ratio of height to hand span (10:1)
• Ratio of height to the distance from the top of the head
to the bottom of the chin (8:1)
• Ratio of height to the distance from the elbow to the
armpit (8:1)
• Ratio of height to the distance from the elbow to the tip
of the hand (5:1)
• Ratio of height to the maximum width of the shoulders
(4:1)
Proportion: The relative size of one
part to another