TY - JOUR
AU - Nicholson, Paul, J
AB - View largeDownload slide Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice, Italy/Bridgeman Images. View largeDownload slide Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice, Italy/Bridgeman Images. In the quincentenary of his death Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) remains one of the most famous people who ever lived and museums worldwide will mark the event. However, anyone who hasn’t seen the Mona Lisa in the Louvre ought to be forewarned that his most famous works include some of his smallest. That is the case for his pen and ink on paper Le proporzioni del corpo umano secondo Vitruvio or The Proportions of the Human Figure (after Vitruvius) drawn sometime between 1490 and 1492. Commonly known as Vitruvian Man it measures 34.4 × 24.5 cm [1]. It is held by the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice but is not on display because prolonged exposure to light would fade the ink [2]. Leonardo’s drawing was inspired by Marcus Vitruvius Pollio who designed and built artillery in the Roman army in the 1st century BC [2]. Vitruvius became an architect and wrote De Architectura in which he proposed that the proportions of a temple should reflect those of the human body [1]. He also argued that a well-proportioned human body with arms and legs outstretched formed a circle with the umbilicus at the centre; and that arm-span equalled height such that a square could be formed at the centre of which was the root of the penis or Il membro virile [1,2]. Above and below Leonardo’s drawing of Vitruvian Man are two blocks of manuscript written in reverse. In one block, Leonardo notes that, according to Vitruvius the measurements of the human body are distributed by nature and describes relations such as six palms make one cubit and four cubits make a man’s height [3]; a cubit being an ancient measure using the distance between the elbow and the tip of the middle finger. Remaining text describes proportions based on Vitruvius which determined that relative to man’s height shoulder width was a maximum of a quarter; foot length a seventh; head height one-eighth; hand length one-tenth; and so on [2]. Leonardo commenced anatomy studies in 1489 and he modified proportions, for example Vitruvius proposed that foot length was one-sixth relative to height. In fact, less than half of the measurements are ones handed down by Vitruvius [2]. In the drawing readers will note that the left foot is positioned awkwardly; this was intentional to help demonstrate the proportions. While not evident in the reproduction one can see in the original indentations made by Leonardo’s pen and the pricks left by the points of his compass [2]. Two of Leonardo’s acquaintances Francesco di Giorgio Martini and Giacomo Andrea da Ferrara also drew Vitruvian men around the same time but neither drawing has the same precision or artistic merit. These drawings can be discovered on the internet. What is the relevance of a drawing of a naked man to occupation? Most occupational clinicians will have seen drawings of human figures standing and/or sitting, for example in relation to computer or assembly line workstations. The proportions of the human body are integral to the disciplines of anthropometry and ergonomics. Anthropometry addresses the measurements and proportions of the body. Along with cognitive factors and environmental factors it is a subdiscipline of ergonomics—the science of the interrelationships between work, people, working methods, equipment, workplace and working environment [4]. Applications of anthropometric measurements in ergonomics include workspace design and the design of furniture, tools and so on. Hence one can see immediately the relevance of Vitruvian Man—except that not all men are created equally; fewer are well-proportioned as the ‘obesity epidemic’ grows; and women constitute around half of the working population. Consequently, Albrecht Dürer was nearer the mark; his Four Books of Human Proportions completed in 1528 categorize various male and female physical types; his illustrations being based on systematic observation and measurement of hundreds of people [4]. Of course, Leonardo wasn’t just an artist; he was a polymath, his skills extending to anatomy, botany, engineering, invention and more. As an inventor he is perhaps best known for his drawings of flying machines or ornithopters which he drew in the 1480s and 1490s [5]. None were built but this hasn’t prevented him being regarded in some circles as ‘the prescient inventor of flying machines’ [6]. The main disciplines related to these projects were anatomy and mechanics; although many of the machines were designed to achieve flight by replicating the shape and movement of the wings of birds and bats [5]. Leonardo would have been in his element today. Anthropometry is critical for the specification, development, evaluation and acquisition of military equipment from clothing to the most complex human-operated systems [7]. Anthropometric standards are applied when selecting military aircrew to ensure that they fit safely into the cockpits of current aircraft types; can operate fully all essential controls; and can egress safely. The four most critical body dimensions for aircrew selection have long been: Sitting height—canopy clearance for the helmet and internal and external view Buttock-knee length—operation of rudder and toe brakes and safe ejection Buttock-heel length—operation of rudder and toe brakes Functional reach—operation of hand-operated controls and instruments [8] Anthropometric data are also used in the design of cockpit workspaces and aircrew equipment assembly (flying clothing). Historically, the data used derived from a 1970’s survey of 2000 RAF aircrew—who were then all male [9]. The design intent was to accommodate the 3rd to the 99th percentile of the male population. In 1989, it was decided to recruit females to UK military front-crew positions with 10% of annual intake numbers being reserved for female candidates [10]. It was known from NATO countries which employed female pilots that many would not meet current anthropometric selection standards. A study of US military personnel had reported that for all practical purposes the 5th percentile male was equivalent in size and proportions to the 50th percentile female and that the 50th percentile male equated to the 95th percentile female [11]. UK military anthropometric data have been updated to include female personnel [12]; however, typically there is a lag of two decades between specification of a development contract and an aircraft entering service so it will be some time before the cockpits of all current aircraft types are more inclusive. Like other artists Leonardo drew and painted several self-portraits. It may be that Vitruvian Man is also a self-portrait. This is plausible since da Vinci was 38 when he drew it; descriptions of him at the time noted his curling hair and well-proportioned body; and there are similarities between features of Vitruvian Man and assumed portraits of Leonardo [2]. Leonardo spent his final years working for King François I at the royal château of Amboise in the Loire Valley and he is buried there in the St Hubert-Chapel. References 1. Sinisgalli R The Vitruvian Man of Leonardo: Symbol of Western Civilization . Florence : Federighi Publishers , 2006 . 2. Isaacson W Leonardo Da Vinci . New York : Simon & Shuster , 2017 . 3. da Vinci L Notebooks . Oxford : Oxford University Press , 2008 . 4. Pheasant S Bodyspace. Anthropometry, Ergonomics and the Design of Work . London : Taylor and Francis , 2003 . 5. Laurenza D Leonardo’s Machines: Secrets and Inventions in the Da Vinci Codices . Florence : Giunti Editore , 2005 . 6. Moon FC The Machines of Leonardo Da Vinci and Franz Reuleaux: Kinematics of Machines from the Renaissance to the 20th Century . Dordrecht : Springer , 2007 . 7. Keefe AA , Angel H , Mangan B 2012 Canadian Forces Anthropometric Survey (CFAS). Scientific Report DRDC-RDDC-2015-R186 . Toronto : Defence Research and Development Canada , 2015 . 8. Turner GM Aircrew Size Limitations—RAF Policy and Procedures. Aircrew Equipment Group Report No. 525 . Farnborough : RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine , 1986 . 9. Bolton CB , Kenward M , Simpson RE , et al. An Anthropometric Survey of 2000 Royal Air Force Aircrew 1970/1971. Technical Report 73083 . Farnborough : Royal Air Force Establishment , 1973 . 10. Nicholson PJ Anthropometry, muscle strength and the female pilot . Travel Med Intl 1993 ; 20 – 23 . 11. Robinette K , Churchill T , McConville JT A comparison of male and female body sizes and proportions. Technical Report 79-69 . Wright-Patterson AFB : Air Force Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory , 1979 . 12. Tyrrell A , Pringle R Anthropometry Survey of UK Military Personnel 2006–07 . Swindon : QinetiQ Ltd , 2007 . © The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. 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TI - Leonardo da Vinci, The Proportions of the Human Figure (after Vitruvius), c 1490
JF - Occupational Medicine
DO - 10.1093/occmed/kqy166
DA - 2019-04-13
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/oxford-university-press/leonardo-da-vinci-the-proportions-of-the-human-figure-after-vitruvius-uliLmykEla
SP - 86
VL - 69
IS - 2
DP - DeepDyve
ER -