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.
The distance from the attachment of one ear to the other is equal to
that from the meeting of the eyebrows to the chin, and in a fine
face the width of the mouth is equal to the length from the parting
of the lips to the bottom of the chin.
312.
The cut or depression below the lower lip of the mouth is half way
between the bottom of the nose and the bottom of the chin.
The face forms a square in itself; that is its width is from the
outer corner of one eye to the other, and its height is from the
very top of the nose to the bottom of the lower lip of the mouth;
then what remains above and below this square amounts to the height
of such another square, _a_ _b_ is equal to the space between _c_
_d_; _d_ _n_ in the same way to _n_ _c_, and likewise _s_ _r_, _q_
_p_, _h_ _k_ are equal to each other.
It is as far between _m_ and _s_ as from the bottom of the nose to
the chin. The ear is exactly as long as the nose. It is as far from
_x_ to _j_ as from the nose to the chin. The parting of the mouth
seen in profile slopes to the angle of the jaw. The ear should be as
high as from the bottom of the nose to the top of the eye-lid. The
space between the eyes is equal to the width of an eye. The ear is
over the middle of the neck, when seen in profile. The distance from
4 to 5 is equal to that from s_ to _r_.
[Footnote: See Pl. VIII, No. I, where the text of lines 3-13 is also
given in facsimile.]
313.
(_a_ _b_) is equal to (_c_ _d_).
[Footnote: See Pl. VII, No. 3. Reference may also be made here to
two pen and ink drawings of heads in profile with figured
measurements, of which there is no description in the MS. These are
given on Pl. XVII, No. 2.--A head, to the left, with part of the
torso [W. P. 5a], No. 1 on the same plate is from MS. A 2b and in
the original occurs on a page with wholly irrelevant text on matters
of natural history. M. RAVAISSON in his edition of the Paris MS. A
has reproduced this head and discussed it fully [note on page 12];
he has however somewhat altered the original measurements. The
complicated calculations which M. RAVAISSON has given appear to me
in no way justified. The sketch, as we see it, can hardly have been
intended for any thing more than an experimental attempt to
ascertain relative proportions. We do not find that Leonardo made
use of circular lines in any other study of the proportions of the
human head. At the same time we see that the proportions of this
sketch are not in accordance with the rules which he usually
observed (see for instance No. 310).]
The head _a_ _f_ 1/6 larger than _n_ _f_.
315.
From the eyebrow to the junction of the lip with the chin, and the
angle of the jaw and the upper angle where the ear joins the temple
will be a perfect square. And each side by itself is half the head.
The hollow of the cheek bone occurs half way between the tip of the
nose and the top of the jaw bone, which is the lower angle of the
setting on of the ear, in the frame here represented.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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