Publisher's Synopsis
The human figure has always been a formidable object to study. The complex way in which it works and how it grows has perplexed many people throughout history. Artist and scientist alike, have been studying the human form inside and out, trying to find a more perfect way to measure this mysterious form.
The largest problem that has faced us in the past is that it has always been looked at as though the human body is such an independent form, individual to itself. When it is looked at this way, it would be hard to find a common ratio that would fit to all individuals. The saying that nobody's perfect would be true and it will always be true. What if we could find a common ratio to begin with for each independent form? Could we then begin with that common ratio and then build on that with each independent form? Can we make such a complex form more simple?
Who better to learn from than the one person who began to blend both worlds, art and science, Leonardo da Vinci. It was Leonardo who took an idea from an earlier counterpart, Vitruvius, and redefined that idea into his own pictorial proof of what he believed to be the ideal proportions of the average human body. He did several drawings of the human body trying to better understand it and at some point he also wanted to compile all of those drawings into a book.
He never got to make his book, although with this book you will find his influence throughout it. Daniel Walters, the author, has studied his work on the human body and found it to be an excellent example to expound upon. He believes DaVinci's Vitruvian Man to be a complete study by his hands, but has always remained skeptical to the rumors that have surrounded this work of art.
It is rumored that Leonardo was trying to square a circle with his one and only drawing of the Vitruvian Man. We don't know if that's a true conclusion, because within this book we will show you several different ways we believe this could be drawn, and as of yet, there is still only one drawing found of the Vitruvian Man made by Leonardo.
The author has researched and studied the human figure in depth. He has looked at it through his eyes as an artist and has contemplated it in a scientific mindset, now he will try to bring to light the human figure with both art and science together.
