Vitruvian Man

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Vitruvian Man
Da Vinci Vitruve Luc Viatour.jpg
Artist Leonardo da Vinci
Year c. 1490
Type Pen and ink with wash over metalpoint
on paper
Dimensions 34.6 cm × 25.5 cm (13.6 in × 10.0 in)
Location Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice

The Vitruvian Man (Italian: Le proporzioni del corpo umano secondo Vitruvio, which is translated to "The proportions of the human body according to Vitruvius"), or simply L'Uomo Vitruviano (Italian pronunciation: [ˈlwɔːmo vitruˈvjaːno]), is a drawing by the Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci around 1490.[1] It is accompanied by notes based on the work of the architect Vitruvius. The drawing, which is in pen and ink on paper, depicts a man in two superimposed positions with his arms and legs apart and inscribed in a circle and square. The drawing and text are sometimes called the Canon of Proportions or, less often, Proportions of Man. It is kept in the Gabinetto dei disegni e stampe of the Gallerie dell'Accademia, in Venice, Italy, under reference 228. Like most works on paper, it is displayed to the public only occasionally, so it isn't part of the normal exhibition of the museum. [2][3]

The drawing is based on the correlations of ideal human proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise De architectura. Vitruvius described the human figure as being the principal source of proportion among the classical orders of architecture. Vitruvius determined that the ideal body should be eight heads high. Leonardo's drawing is traditionally named in honor of the architect.

Subject and title[edit]

This image demonstrates the blend of mathematics and art during the Renaissance and demonstrates Leonardo's deep understanding of proportion. In addition, this picture represents a cornerstone of Leonardo's attempts to relate man to nature. Encyclopædia Britannica online states, "Leonardo envisaged the great picture chart of the human body he had produced through his anatomical drawings and Vitruvian Man as a cosmografia del minor mondo (cosmography of the microcosm). He believed the workings of the human body to be an analogy for the workings of the universe."[4]

According to Leonardo's preview in the accompanying text, written in mirror writing, it was made as a study of the proportions of the (male) human body as described in Vitruvius. The text is in two parts, above[a] and below[b] the image.

The first paragraph of the upper part reports Vitruvius: "Vetruvio, architect, puts in his work on architecture that the measurements of man are in nature distributed in this manner, that is:

  • a palm is four fingers
  • a foot is four palms
  • a cubit is six palms
  • four cubits make a man
  • a pace is four cubits
  • a man is 24 palms

and these measurements are in his buildings". The second paragraph reads: "if you open your legs enough that your head is lowered by one-fourteenth of your height and raise your hands enough that your extended fingers touch the line of the top of your head, know that the centre of the extended limbs will be the navel, and the space between the legs will be an equilateral triangle".

The lower section of text gives these proportions:

  • the length of the hand is one-tenth of the height of a man.
  • the root of the penis is at half the height of a man.
  • the foot is one-seventh of the height of a man.
  • from below the foot to below the knee is a quarter of the height of a man.
  • from below the knee to the root of the penis is a quarter of the height of a man.

The points determining these proportions are marked with lines on the drawing. Below the drawing itself is a single line equal to a side of the square and divided into four cubits, of which the outer two are divided into six palms each, two of which have the mirror-text annotation "palmi"; the outermost two palms are divided into four fingers each, and are each annotated "diti".

Leonardo is clearly illustrating Vitruvius' De architectura 3.1.2–3 which reads:



Leonardo's drawing combines a careful reading of the ancient text with his own observation of actual human bodies. In drawing the circle and square he correctly observes that the square cannot have the same centre as the circle,[6] the navel, but is somewhat lower in the anatomy. This adjustment is the innovative part of Leonardo's drawing and what distinguishes it from earlier illustrations. He also departs from Vitruvius by drawing the arms raised to a position in which the fingertips are level with the top of the head, rather than Vitruvius's much lower angle, in which the arms form lines passing through the navel.


It may be noticed by examining the drawing that the combination of arm and leg positions actually creates sixteen different poses. The pose with the arms straight out and the feet together is seen to be inscribed in the superimposed square. On the other hand, the "spread-eagle" pose is seen to be inscribed in the superimposed circle.

The drawing was purchased from Gaudenzio de' Pagave by Giuseppe Bossi,[8] who described, discussed and illustrated it in his monograph on Leonardo's The Last Supper, Del Cenacolo di Leonardo da Vinci libri quattro (1810).[9] The following year he excerpted the section of his monograph concerned with the Vitruvian Man and published it as Delle opinioni di Leonardo da Vinci intorno alla simmetria de'Corpi Umani (1811), with a dedication to his friend Antonio Canova.[10]

After Bossi's death in 1815 the Vitruvian Man was acquired in 1822, along with a number of his drawings, by the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice, Italy, and has remained there since.[11]

Evidence of collaboration[edit]

Figures from Francesco di Giorgio's treatise
FGMartini1.jpg FGMartini2.jpg Giorgio Martini, Francesco di - Illustration from the Trattato di architettura - c. 1470.jpg
Vitruvian man.
Church Design
Castle Design

Evidence has been found that Leonardo might have been influenced by the work of Giacomo Andrea de Ferrara, a Renaissance architect, an expert on Vitruvius and a close friend.[12] Giacomo Andrea's original drawing has only one set of arms and legs, but Leonardo's has the position of his man's arms and legs change.[13]

Another possible influence for Leonardo's depiction may have been the codex depictions of human proportions in architecture by Francesco di Giorgio, a Sienese architect who compiled, in 1470, an unpublished treatise on civil and military architecture (Trattato di Architettura Civile e Militare).[citation needed]


Vitruvian Man has stimulated artists including:

Vitruvian female (ca. 1983), Rob ten Berge

Vitruvian Woman[edit]

The Dutch artist Rob ten Berge (1952–2016) claimed to have been the first, around 1983, to have depicted a Vitruvian female.

See also[edit]


  1. ^ Above the image:

    Vetruvio, architecto, mecte nella sua op(er)a d'architectura, chelle misure dell'omo sono dalla natura
    disstribuite inquessto modo cioè che 4 diti fa 1 palmo, et 4 palmi fa 1 pie, 6 palmi fa un chubito, 4
    cubiti fa 1 homo, he 4 chubiti fa 1 passo, he 24 palmi fa 1 homo ecqueste misure son ne' sua edifiti.
    somita del chapo, sappi che 'l cie(n)tro delle stremita delle

  2. ^ Below the image:

    Tanto ap(r)e l'omo nele b(r)accia, qua(n)to ella sua alteza.
    Dal nasscimento de chapegli al fine di sotto del mento è il decimo dell'altez(z)a del(l)'uomo. Dal di socto del mento alla som(m)i-
    tà del chapo he l'octavo dell'altez(z)a dell'omo. Dal di sop(r)a del pecto alla som(m)ità del chapo fia il sexto dell'omo. Dal di so-
    p(r)a del pecto al nasscime(n)to de chapegli fia la sectima parte di tucto l'omo. Dalle tette al di sop(r)a del chapo fia
    la quarta parte dell'omo. La mag(g)iore larg(h)ez(z)a delle spalli chontiene insè [la oct] la quarta parte dell'omo. Dal go-
    mito alla punta della mano fia la quarta parte dell'omo, da esso gomito al termine della isspalla fia la octava
    parte d'esso omo; tucta la mano fia la decima parte dell'omo. Il menb(r)o birile nasscie nel mez(z)o dell'omo. Il
    piè fia la sectima parte dell'omo. Dal di socto del piè al di socto del ginochio fia la quarta parte dell'omo.
    Dal di socto del ginochio al nasscime(n)to del memb(r)o fia la quarta parte dell'omo. Le parti chessi truovano infra
    il me(n)to e 'l naso e 'l nasscime(n)to de chapegli e quel de cigli ciasscuno spatio p(er)se essimile alloreche è 'l terzo del volto


  1. ^ The Secret Language of the Renaissance – Richard Stemp
  2. ^ "The Vitruvian man". Retrieved 2010-08-20. 
  3. ^ "Da Vinci's Code". Retrieved 2010-08-20. 
  4. ^ Heydenreich, Ludwig Heinrich (2017-04-30). "Leonardo da Vinci". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. Retrieved 2017-06-24. 
  5. ^ "Ten Books on Architecture. Book III, Chapter I, "On Symmetry: In Temples And In The Human Body"". 2006-12-31. Retrieved 2010-08-20. 
  6. ^ "The Vitruvian Man and the squaring of the circle detailed". 2010-06-15. Retrieved 2010-08-20. 
  7. ^ "Bibliographic reference". The Whole Universe Book. Retrieved 2011-11-30. 
  8. ^ Bossi, Giuseppe (1810)Del Cenacolo di Leonardo da Vinci libri quattro (in Italian) Milano: Stamperia Reale p.208ff
  9. ^ "Bibliographic reference". Retrieved 2010-08-20. 
  10. ^ "Bibliographical notice, no. 319". Archived from the original on 7 January 2009. Retrieved 20 August 2010. 
  11. ^ "LEONARDO DA VINCI. THE UNIVERSAL MAN". Retrieved 2014-02-13. 
  12. ^ "The Other Vitruvian Man". Smithsonian Magazine. 2012-02-01. 
  13. ^ "Did Leonardo da Vinci copy his famous 'Vitruvian Man'?". 2012-01-31. 


  • Lester, Toby (2012). Da Vinci's Ghost: Genius, Obsession, and How Leonardo Created the World in His Own Image. New York: Free Press. ISBN 9781439189238. 

External links[edit]