Vitruvius Man

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According to Leonardo's notes 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, who wrote that in the human body:

a palm is the width of four fingers

a foot is the width of four palms (and is 12 inch)

a cubit is the width of six palms (18 inches)

a man's height is four cubits (and thus 24 palms) (72inches (6feet))

a pace is four cubits

the length of a man's outspread arms is equal to his height - (72 inches)

the distance from the hairline to the bottom of the chin is one-tenth of a man's height (7.2 inches)

the distance from the top of the head to the bottom of the chin is one-eighth of a man's height (9 inches)

the maximum width of the shoulders is a quarter of a man's height (18 inches)

the distance from the elbow to the tip of the hand is one-fifth of a man's height (14.4inches)

the distance from the elbow to the armpit is one-eighth of a man's height (9 inches)

the length of the hand is one-tenth of a man's height (7.2 inches)

the distance from the bottom of the chin to the nose is one-third of the length of the head

the distance from the hairline to the eyebrows is one-third of the length of the face

the length of the ear is one-third of the length of the face

Leonardo is clearly illustrating Vitruvius' De architectura 3.1.3 which reads:

The navel is naturally placed in the centre of the human body, and, if in a man lying with his face upward, and his hands and feet extended, from his navel as the centre, a circle be described, it will touch his fingers and toes.

the length of a man's outspread arms is equal to his height
It is not alone by a circle, that the human body is thus circumscribed, as may be seen by placing it within a square. For measuring from the feet to the crown of the head, and then across the arms fully extended, we find the latter measure equal to the former; so that lines at right angles to each other, enclosing the figure, will form a square.


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