"Vitruvian Man" by Leonardo Da Vinci and The Golden Ratio

“Vitruvian Man” by Leonardo da Vinci and the Golden Ratio 7/23/17, 13(38
Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci and the Golden Ratio

Takashi Ida
Advanced Ceramics Research Center
Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan
[ Japanese ]
The drawing scheme of Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci has been

analyzed. It is concluded that the ratio of the radius of the circle to the side
length of the square was intended to be 137 / 225 = 0.6088···, but not the golden
ratio (1 / r) = (51/2 1) / 2 = 0.6180··· .
1. Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci and the golden ratio
The golden ratio is the proportion given by

the numerical value: r = (1 + 51/2) / 2 =
1.6180··· , or (1 / r) = (51/2 1) / 2 = 0.6180···
.
It is often assumed that the ratio of the
radius of the circle to the side length of the
square (= the height of a man) in the
Vitruvian Man , which is said to be drawn
by Leonardo da Vinci, is given by the golden
ratio.
The author has evaluated the radius of the

circle for a normalized image, obtained by
slight modification, where the figure
intended to be square by da Vinci was
Fig. 1
adjusted to be square by linearly mapping
the image with Adobe Photoshop. Vitruvian man by
Leonardo da Vinci
The image after the normalization is shown
(normalized)
in Fig. 1.
The ratio was estimated at 0.606 0.609,
http://www.crl.nitech.ac.jp/~ida/education/VitruvianMan/ Page 1 of 9
which is significantly smaller than the golden

ratio 0.618.
2. Golden-ratio model
The discrepancy in the golden-ratio model

is more pronounced in Fig. 2 , where the
square and circle drawn by da Vinci (red)
and the circle calculated with the golden
ratio (blue) are superimposed.
The fingertip touches both the red circle and

square drawn by da Vinci, when it is located
at the hight of the top of the head.
However, such a condition could never be

satisfied with the circle calculated with the
golden ratio (0.618). When the golden-ratio
circle is in contact with the base line of the
square, the upper part of the circle should
necessarily be located closely to the upper
vertices of the square. It looks impossible to Fig. 2
achieve the situation that the fingertip Square and circle drawn by
touches both the square and the golden-ratio da Vinci (red) and a circle
circle by ordinary motion of human with the radus of golden
shoulders. ratio (blue)
The radius of the circle drawn by da Vinci
was not intended to be the golden ratio.
3. Model based on 45 -rotation of square
It is suggested on a web site [ Geometrical

construction of the Vitruvian Man by
Leonardo da Vinci ] that the circle goes
through the top vertex of the 45 -rotated
square, as shown in Fig. 3.
In this case, the radius of the sphere should

have the value (21/2 + 1) / 4 = 0.604, which is
certainly closer to the measured value 0.606
0.609 than the golden ratio 0.618.
However, no trace to support this assumption
is found in the drawing. Even if the result of
this model shows good fit to the observed
data, it is still difficult to justify the
assumption.
By the way, the circle described by Vitruvius
should satisfy the following conditons,
(i) the center is placed on the navel,
(ii) the circumference should touch both
fingertips and feet.
Fig. 3
However, the best position of the navel will
Lines drawn by da Vinci
be ambiguous, and the circumference that
(red) and a circle going
touches fingertips and feet will depend on
through the top vertex of
the angles of the arms and legs from the
the 45 -rotated square
trunk of the body. Then the conditions (i)
(blue).
and (ii) cannot fully determine the position
and radius of the circle.
The circle drawn by da Vinci has following
additional properties, which may not have
been described by Vitruvius,
(iii) the circumference touches the soles of the
man standing upright
(iv) the circumference touches the fingertips at
the height of the top of the head.
Since the allowable range for the radius of
the circle becomes much more restricted by
the conditions (iii) and (iv), it indicates that
da Vinci really intended to introduce those
additional conditions.
4. Lines and points drawn by da Vinci
Lines marking the proportions about human

body are drawn in Vitruvian Man , and
there is a kind of a scale below the figure.
Those markers and scale are superimposed
as red lines in Fig. 4.
There are four points marking the edges of
two lines, AA and BB in Fig. 4.
Refer to the original figure Fig. 1, if
necessary.
Fig. 4
Lines, segments, dots and
scale drawn by da Vinci
(red).
5. Texts noted by da Vinci
In the texts on the lower section of

Vitruvian Man , it is written:
from above the chest to the top of the

head is one-sixth of the height of a man
from above the chest to the hairline is
one-seventh of the height of a man
the maximum width of the shoulders is a
quarter of the height of a man
from the breasts to the top of the head is
a quarter of the height of a man
the distance from the elbow to the tip of

the hand is a quarter of the height of a
man
the distance from the elbow to the armpit
is one-eighth of the height of a man
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
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 distances between line markers on the
drawing are in good coincidence with the Fig. 5
above description, as shown in Fig. 5.
Distances between segments
The divisons on the scale below the drawing based on the note in the
correspond to 1/96 and 1/24 of the height of lower section.
the man.
6. Four points marked by da Vinci
The four edge points of lines AA and BB are

clearly marked by da Vinci ( Fig. 4 ), while
no mark is found for other edge points. It
suggests that da Vinci attached special
meaning to the length or the location of the
edge points of lines AA and BB .
The distances of AA and BB from the top of
the head (T) are respectively 1/6 and 1/4,
both of which are consistent with the
description in the text area. However, no
description about the length or the locations
of the edge points has been found.
The measured length of the line BB marking

the location of the breasts is close to 1/5 of
the height of the man ( Fig. 6 ). It is likely
that da Vinci assumed the value 1/5 as the
width of the breasts, which is equal to the
twice the length of a hand (1/10).
On the other hand, the definition of the
length of the line AA , which is close to 1/7.5
= 2/15, still remains unclear. As described
later, the points A and A can be assigned to
the centers for the rotation of the arms. Then
the length AA should be less than the width
of the shoulders (1/4), but tolerable range
remains, because not only the motion of
arms but also shoulders affects the location Fig. 6
of moved fingertips.
Positioning of four special
It should be noted that the locations A, A , B points.
and B appear to be arranged so that lines AB
and A B crosses just at the top of the head
(T), as can be seen in Fig. 6 . It is likely that
da Vinci applied this condition to remove
amguity and fix the positions of the points A
and A .
The length of the line AA should be (1/5)
(1/6) / (1/4) = 2/15 to satisfy this assumption.
7. Rotation of arms (1)
The fingertips (C and C ) for horizontally

stretched arms are located at the same
height as the points A and A ( Fig. 7 ). The
location of a fingertip at the height of the top
of the head (D) and the point C appear to be
equally distant from the point A.
Even if the point A deviates from the

location of the shoulder joint, it can virtually
be the center about rotation of an arm, when
associative motion of the arm and shoulder
is taken into account.
We can imagine that da Vinci treated the

point A as the center for the rotation of the
arm, determined the rotation radius from the
distance between A and C, and defined the
point D as the crossing point of the rotated
fingertip and the top line of the square. The
circle going through the point D and
touching the baseline of the square can
uniquely be determined.
Fig. 7
Rotation of the arms (1).
8. Rotation of the arms (2)
It is likely that da Vinci geometrically

determined the radius of the circle, but the
radius can also be evaluated by calculation.
When the side length of the square (height of

the man) is assumed to be one, the distance
between A and C should be
AC = 1/2 (2/15)/2 = 13/30,

as shown in Fig. 7, and then AD = AC =
13/30.
The distance between points D and T (top of
the head) is given by
1/15 + [(13/30)2 (1/6)2]1/2 = 7/15 .
See ( Fig. 8).

Fig. 8
Rotation of the arms (2).
9. Calculation of the radius of da Vinci's circle
Let R be the radius of the circle da Vinci

intended to draw. Then the following
equation should be satisfied,
[R2 (7/15)2]1/2 + R = 1 ,
as shown in Fig. 9.
The solution of the above equation is given
by
R = [1 + (7/15)2] / 2 = 137/225 =
0.6088··· .
Fig. 9
Calculation of the radius of

da Vinci's circle (R =
137/225).
10. Conclusion
Figure 10 shows superimposed image of the

square and circle drawn in Vitruvian Man
by Leonardo da Vinci as red figures, and a
blue circle with the radius of 137/225
(0.609).
In conclusion, Leonardo da Vinci assumed
the width of the breasts BB to be 1/5 of the
height of the man, and defined two points A
and A as the 2:1 internally dividing points of
TB and TB for the top of the head (T) (Fig. 6)

. The fingertip (C) initially located at the
same height as the point A was rotated
around A, and found the point D as the
crossing point with the top line of the square
(Fig. 7) . Finally, da Vinci has drawn the
circle touching the point D and the baseline
of the square (Fig. 8) .
Consequently, Leonardo da Vinci intended to

draw the circle with the radius of 137/225 of
the side length of the square (Fig. 9) , and
has certainly succeeded in drawing such a
circle (Fig. 10).
Fig. 10
Square and circle in the
Vitruvian Man (red) and
the circle with the radius of
137/225 (blue).
June 18, 2012

"Vitruvian Man" by Leonardo Da Vinci and The Golden Ratio

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“Vitruvian Man” by Leonardo da Vinci and the Golden Ratio 7/23/17, 13(38

Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci and the Golden Ratio

The drawing scheme of Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci has been

1. Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci and the golden ratio

The golden ratio is the proportion given by

The author has evaluated the radius of the

which is signiﬁcantly smaller than the golden

The discrepancy in the golden-ratio model

The ﬁngertip touches both the red circle and

However, such a condition could never be

3. Model based on 45 -rotation of square

It is suggested on a web site [ Geometrical

In this case, the radius of the sphere should

4. Lines and points drawn by da Vinci

Lines marking the proportions about human

5. Texts noted by da Vinci

In the texts on the lower section of

from above the chest to the top of the

the distance from the elbow to the tip of

6. Four points marked by da Vinci

The four edge points of lines AA and BB are

The measured length of the line BB marking

7. Rotation of arms (1)

The ﬁngertips (C and C ) for horizontally

Even if the point A deviates from the

We can imagine that da Vinci treated the

Rotation of the arms (1).

8. Rotation of the arms (2)

It is likely that da Vinci geometrically

When the side length of the square (height of

AC = 1/2 ­ (2/15)/2 = 13/30,

1/15 + [(13/30)2 ­ (1/6)2]1/2 = 7/15 .

See ( Fig. 8).

Rotation of the arms (2).

9. Calculation of the radius of da Vinci's circle

Let R be the radius of the circle da Vinci

Calculation of the radius of

Figure 10 shows superimposed image of the

TB and TB for the top of the head (T) (Fig. 6)

Consequently, Leonardo da Vinci intended to

June 18, 2012

S-ar putea să vă placă și

AC = 1/2 (2/15)/2 = 13/30,

1/15 + [(13/30)2 (1/6)2]1/2 = 7/15 .