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Vitruvian man

The Vitruvian Man (click here for large picture) is a famous drawing with accompanying notes by Leonardo da Vinci made around the year 1490 in one of his journals. It depicts a naked male figure in two superimposed positions with his arms apart and simultaneously inscribed in a circle and square. The drawing and text are sometimes called the Canon of Proportions.

The drawing is in pen, ink, and watercolor over metalpoint, and measures 34.3 x 24.5 cm. It is currently part of the collection of the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice.

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 a treatise by the Ancient Roman architect Vitruvius."

Wikipedia (please check for updates)

See also:

bullet Willamette University site on Vitruvian man
bullet Stanford University site on Vitruvian man
bullet The Vitruvian Man and the squaring of the circle
bullet Leonardo's Vitruvian Man
bullet Decoding the Vitruvian man
bullet Geometry behind the Vitruvian man

And about Leonardo da Vinci:

bullet Universal Leonardo: Aimed at deepening our understanding of Leonardo da Vinci through a series of European exhibitions (2006), scientific research and web-based resources.