The proportion of human body second to vitruvio. Drawing by leonardo da vinci, 1490. “vitruvius says, in his work on architecture: nature has distributed the measurements of the human body like this:
four fingers make a palm, and four palms make a foot, six palms make an elbow: four elbows make the height of a man. And four elbows make a double step, and twenty-four palms make a man; and he used these measurements in his constructions. If you open your legs so as to lower your height by one-fourteenth, and if you extend your arms so that the tips of your fingers are level with the crown of your head, you should know that the center of your extended limbs will be at the navel, and that the space between your legs will be an equilateral triangle. The length of a man's outstretched arms is equal to his height. From the hairline to the bottom of the chin is one-tenth of a man's height. From the bottom of the chin to the top of the head, one eighth. From the top of the chest to the top of the head, a sixth; from the top of the chest to the roots of the hair, a seventh. From the nipples to the top of the head, a quarter of the height of the man. The greatest width of the shoulders is contained in a man's quarter. From the elbow to the tip of the hand, a quarter. From the elbow to the armpit, one eighth. The complete hand is one tenth of the man. The birth of the virile member is in the middle. The foot is one seventh of the man. From the sole of the foot to below the knee, a quarter of the man. From below the knee to the beginning of the genitals, a quarter of the man. The distance from the bottom of the chin to the nose, and from the roots of the hair to the eyebrows is the same, as well as the ear: a third of the face. »
vitruvius, on architecture. Man, measure of all things.
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