Since I
know that my two treasures come here to read me often, I thought that today is
good to give a small lesson of one of the greatest medieval geniuses that Italy
– my mother country – produced for the enjoyment of the entire world to this
day.
It’s very
evident that I’m going to talk about Leonardo da Vinci from the wonderful
Italian region named Tuscany (Toscana) home to very many immortal artistic and
scientific figures and works of art (i.e. leaning tower in Pisa and Uffizi
museum in Florence).
The Vitruvian
man is a drawing made by Leonardo that’s astounding for its precision and
proportions that only today that we have powerful computers are possible to
make but certainly not on a piece of paper just with
bare hands holding a pen.
I love the
fact that this drawing is still existent today, after 2 world wars and
everything else (earthquakes, floods, fires) that could have at least damaged -
if not completely destroyed - this expression of the magnificent genius that
Leonardo was, this drawing in fact had the purpose to clarify the concept of proportions,
where the body of the man is used as a basic parameter of measure that helps
architects doing their job, for example the notes that go with this drawing,
show how Leonardo understood the proportions of the human body. Each
part is a simple fraction of the whole. For example, the head measured from the
forehead to the chin is exactly one tenth of the total height, and the
outstretched arms are always as wide as the body is tall.
Vitruvius discussed proper symmetry and proportion as
related to the building of temples. The architect believed that the proportions and measurements of the
human body - which is divinely created - are perfect and correct. He therefore
proposed that a properly constructed temple should reflect and relate to the
parts of the human body, that's the model of perfection. Vitruvius justifies
this by stating that the human body, with arms and legs extended, fits into the
perfect geometric forms, the circle, and the square. I’m hoping that my two
treasures will look at the links below and I promise that when we’ll live
together again, I’ll buy a framed poster of Leonardo’s Vitruvian man.
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