The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci — CompleteLeonardo, da Vinci
Science
The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci — Complete
Leonardo, da Vinci
Leonardo, da Vinci, 1452-1519 -- Notebooks, sketchbooks, etc.
If a man 2 braccia high is too small, one of four is too tall, the
medium being what is admirable. Between 2 and 4 comes 3; therefore
take a man of 3 braccia in height and measure him by the rule I will
give you. If you tell me that I may be mistaken, and judge a man to
be well proportioned who does not conform to this division, I answer
that you must look at many men of 3 braccia, and out of the larger
number who are alike in their limbs choose one of those who are most
graceful and take your measurements. The length of the hand is 1/3
of a braccio [8 inches] and this is found 9 times in man. And the
face [Footnote 7: The account here given of the _braccio_ is of
importance in understanding some of the succeeding chapters. _Testa_
must here be understood to mean the face. The statements in this
section are illustrated in part on Pl. XI.] is the same, and from
the pit of the throat to the shoulder, and from the shoulder to the
nipple, and from one nipple to the other, and from each nipple to
the pit of the throat.
Proportions of the head and face (310-318).
310.
The space between the parting of the lips [the mouth] and the base
of the nose is one-seventh of the face.
The space from the mouth to the bottom of the chin _c d_ is the
fourth part of the face and equal to the width of the mouth.
The space from the chin to the base of the nose _e f_ is the third
part of the face and equal to the length of the nose and to the
forehead.
The distance from the middle of the nose to the bottom of the chin
_g h_, is half the length of the face.
The distance from the top of the nose, where the eyebrows begin, to
the bottom of the chin, _i k_, is two thirds of the face.
The space from the parting of the lips to the top of the chin _l m_,
that is where the chin ends and passes into the lower lip of the
mouth, is the third of the distance from the parting of the lips to
the bottom of the chin and is the twelfth part of the face. From the
top to the bottom of the chin _m n_ is the sixth part of the face
and is the fifty fourth part of a man's height.
From the farthest projection of the chin to the throat _o p_ is
equal to the space between the mouth and the bottom of the chin, and
a fourth of the face.
The distance from the top of the throat to the pit of the throat
below _q r_ is half the length of the face and the eighteenth part
of a man's height.
From the chin to the back of the neck _s t_, is the same distance as
between the mouth and the roots of the hair, that is three quarters
of the head.
From the chin to the jaw bone _v x_ is half the head and equal to
the thickness of the neck in profile.
The thickness of the head from the brow to the nape is once and 3/4
that of the neck.
[Footnote: The drawings to this text, lines 1-10 are on Pl. VII, No.
I. The two upper sketches of heads, Pl. VII, No. 2, belong to lines
11-14, and in the original are placed immediately below the sketches
reproduced on Pl. VII, No. 1.]
311.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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