Vitruvian Man

"Vitruvian Man" is that pen-and-ink drawing you are probably familiar with, by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), of a man in anatomical, side, and spread poses inside, and defining the points of, a circle and a square. Da Vinci made the drawing in about 1492.

Remember the Monticello post a few days ago? Oh, well, no matter.  Anyway, we recovered the 10-volume work, De architectura (Ten Books of Architecture) by Vitruvius, first-century-BCE Roman architect, in 1414. But we did not recover his illustrations.

Vitruvius believed that human proportions had their basis in the cosmic principles of geometry and proposed that this truth should inform our architecture. Since we had lost Vitruvius's original drawing, da Vinci made one, giving Vitruvius's text in the mirror-writing around the figure.

In 2011, researchers at Imperial College London noticed that the model for da Vinci's drawing may have been a cadaver who died of the inguinal hernia evident on the left side of the groin. (Today, if the condition were severe enough, we would have repaired it by emergency surgery; in 1492, it would have been fatal.)

The discovery that da Vinci's Vitruvian man has a physical flaw is big. Monumental, even. Vitruvius articulated the theory of the microcosm; da Vinci illustrated it, and, maybe even unwittingly, enriched the idea. Each of us is perfect as a Platonic representation of the human figure; each of us is subject to disease and imperfection as an individual.

I'm not a philosopher, so what do I know? But that's my take on it.

Vitruvian man is depicted on NASA's EVA (Extra-Vehicular Activity) patch. (NASA is the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration.) The patch is worn on the spacesuits of members of EMU (American Extravehicular Mobility Unit) and on the uniform jumpsuits of people who have walked in space.

"Vitruvian Man" as drawn by Leonardo da Vinci in 1492.

"Da Vinci Vitruve Luc Viatour" by Leonardo da Vinci - Own work www.lucnix.be. 2007-09-08 (photograph).