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Vitruvian Man
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===Historical context=== The moderately successful architect and engineer [[Vitruvius]] lived from {{circa|80|20}} BCE, primarily in the [[Roman Republic]].{{sfn|Zöllner|2019|p=112}} He is best known for authoring {{lang|la|[[De architectura]]}} (''On Architecture''), later called the ''Ten Books on Architecture'', which is the only substantial architecture treatise that survives from antiquity.{{sfn|Isaacson|2017|p=149}} The work's third volume includes a discussion concerning [[body proportions]],{{sfn|Bambach|2019a|p=224}} where the figures of a man in a circle and a square are respectively referred to as ''homo ad circulum'', ''homo ad quadratum''.{{sfn|Zöllner|2019|p=112}} Vitruvius explained that: {{quote|In a temple there ought to be harmony in the symmetrical relations of the different parts to the whole. In the human body, the central point is the navel. If a man is placed flat on his back, with his hands and feet extended, and a compass centered at his navel, his fingers and toes will touch the circumference of a circle thereby described. And just as the human body yields a circular outline, so too a square may be found from it. For if we measure the distance from the soles of the feet to the top of the head, and then apply that measure to the outstretched arms, the breadth will be found to be the same as the height, as in the case of a perfect square.|source=Vitruvius in ''De architectura'', [[:s:Page:Vitruvius the Ten Books on Architecture.djvu/103|book three, chapter one]]{{sfn|Isaacson|2017|p=150}}}} 19th-century historians often postulated that Leonardo had no substantial inspiration from the ancient world, propagating his stance as a "modern genius" who rejected all of classicism.{{sfn|Marani|2003|p=210}} This has been heavily disproven by many documented accounts from Leonardo's colleagues or records of him either owning, reading, and being influenced by writings from antiquity.{{sfn|Marani|2003|p=210}} The treatise of Vitruvius was long kept obscurely in monk's manuscript copies, but "rediscovered" in the 15th century by [[Poggio Bracciolini]] among works such as ''[[De rerum natura|De Rerum natura]]''.{{sfn|Isaacson|2017|p=149}} Many artists then attempted to design figures which would satisfy Vitruvius' description, with the earliest being three such images by [[Francesco di Giorgio Martini]] around the 1470s.{{sfn|Isaacson|2017|p=151}}{{sfn|Palmer|2018|p=153}} Leonardo may have been influenced by the architect [[Giacomo Andrea]], with whom he records as having dined within 1490.{{sfn|Isaacson|2017|pp=152–153}} Andrea created his own Vitruvian Man drawing that year, which was unknown to scholars until the 1980s.{{sfn|Isaacson|2017|pp=152–153}} <gallery mode="packed" heights="260px" perrow="3"> De Architectura030.jpg|A ''Vitruvian Man'' depiction in the edition of {{lang|la|[[De Architectura]]}} by [[Vitruvius]]; illustrated edition by [[Cesare Cesariano]], 1521 File:FGMartini1.jpg|One of [[Francesco di Giorgio Martini]]'s three attempts at creating the ideal "Vitruvian Man" File:Vitruvian Man by Giacomo Andrea.jpg|A "Vitruvian Man" prototype by [[Giacomo Andrea]], 1490 </gallery>
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