DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.48092#0186
166
durer’s literary remains.
[chap.
That the face, from the chin upwards to where the hair begins, is the
tenth part of a man, and that an outstretched hand is the same length.
The head of a man is an eighth part of him, and the length from the
level of the breast up to where the hair begins (above the forehead)
is a sixth part. Dividing the distance between the hair and the chin
into three parts, the forehead occupies the upper, the nose the second,
and the mouth and chin the third. A foot is the sixth part of a man,
an elbow a quarter, the breast a quarter.
Such proportions he finds throughout the whole figure, and he says
that if one lays a man down on the ground, with his hands and feet
extended (as in the first of the illustrative outlines), the circumference
of a circle, which has its centre in the navel, will pass through the
hands and feet. Thus he attempts to find, out of the human limbs, a
circular construction.
And similarly one also finds a square (construction) when one
measures from the feet to the crown of the head. In this case the
span (of the outstretched arms) is equal to the height (of the body).
Thus he explains the square construction. In this way he has brought
the human limbs together in a perfect proportion, in so satisfactory a
manner that neither the ancients nor the moderns are able to overthrow
it. Whosoever will may read him, how he demonstrates the best theory
of the construction of the human figure.”
We do not know exactly when the meeting between Dtirer
and Jacopo took place. It must have been before 1500, because
in that year Dtirer made a drawing of a female figure (now in
the British Museum) mapped out with proportioned circles and
measured lines, indicative of an advanced stage of his new
theory. Four years longer he worked heart and soul at the
subject. He frequented the Niirnberg bath-houses, where naked
figures could be studied; he made many drawings from the
nude ; he measured and analysed the parts of the figures drawn;
and thus, by multiplying observations and comparing them
together, he strove to discover what are the best proportions
between the various members of a well-built frame.
Dtirer’s ‘Theory of Human Proportions’ rested on a reli-
gious basis, which he described in these words (iv. 37) : “ the
Creator fashioned men once for all as they must be, and I hold
that the perfection of form and beauty is contained in the sum
of all men.” He, of course, accepted the Genesis legend as
literal truth. He believed that God created Adam and Eve
perfect in body and soul, that the Fall introduced sin, or
imperfection of soul, and that imperfection of body followed in
its train. But he held that, just as the moralist might discover,
durer’s literary remains.
[chap.
That the face, from the chin upwards to where the hair begins, is the
tenth part of a man, and that an outstretched hand is the same length.
The head of a man is an eighth part of him, and the length from the
level of the breast up to where the hair begins (above the forehead)
is a sixth part. Dividing the distance between the hair and the chin
into three parts, the forehead occupies the upper, the nose the second,
and the mouth and chin the third. A foot is the sixth part of a man,
an elbow a quarter, the breast a quarter.
Such proportions he finds throughout the whole figure, and he says
that if one lays a man down on the ground, with his hands and feet
extended (as in the first of the illustrative outlines), the circumference
of a circle, which has its centre in the navel, will pass through the
hands and feet. Thus he attempts to find, out of the human limbs, a
circular construction.
And similarly one also finds a square (construction) when one
measures from the feet to the crown of the head. In this case the
span (of the outstretched arms) is equal to the height (of the body).
Thus he explains the square construction. In this way he has brought
the human limbs together in a perfect proportion, in so satisfactory a
manner that neither the ancients nor the moderns are able to overthrow
it. Whosoever will may read him, how he demonstrates the best theory
of the construction of the human figure.”
We do not know exactly when the meeting between Dtirer
and Jacopo took place. It must have been before 1500, because
in that year Dtirer made a drawing of a female figure (now in
the British Museum) mapped out with proportioned circles and
measured lines, indicative of an advanced stage of his new
theory. Four years longer he worked heart and soul at the
subject. He frequented the Niirnberg bath-houses, where naked
figures could be studied; he made many drawings from the
nude ; he measured and analysed the parts of the figures drawn;
and thus, by multiplying observations and comparing them
together, he strove to discover what are the best proportions
between the various members of a well-built frame.
Dtirer’s ‘Theory of Human Proportions’ rested on a reli-
gious basis, which he described in these words (iv. 37) : “ the
Creator fashioned men once for all as they must be, and I hold
that the perfection of form and beauty is contained in the sum
of all men.” He, of course, accepted the Genesis legend as
literal truth. He believed that God created Adam and Eve
perfect in body and soul, that the Fall introduced sin, or
imperfection of soul, and that imperfection of body followed in
its train. But he held that, just as the moralist might discover,