In the first leonardo notes that according to vitruvius these are the measurements of the ideal body. Four fingers equal one palm four palms equal one foot.

The Inspiration Behind Leonardo Da Vinci S Vitruvian Man By
Leonardo da vinci body measurement. The vitruvian man italian. The derived proportions for head height arm span breast to crown and knee height were slightly more than leonardo da vincis estimates table. Leonardo da vinci 14521519 is sure to have read vitruvius. These are some of the words vitruvius uses in his book. A simple measurement with a. In order to clarify leonardos transcription of vitruvius we have separated and enumerated each of the theories with bold numbers in the text.
Find out whether leonardo da vincis ideas about the proportions of the human body were accurate. The database of body scanner measurements consisted of 63 623 men and 1385 women. Leonardo begins his interpretation of vitruvius with the measurements of the human body are distributed by nature as follow 1. The length of the outspread arms is equal to the height of a man. It is accompanied by notes based on the work of the roman architect vitruvius. This study uses 3d body scanner measurements of us air force recruits to compare ideal body proportions represented by leonardo da vincis vitruvian man with contemporary body proportions in young adult men and womenvitruvian man with contemporary body proportions in young adult men and women.
The distance from the elbow to the armpit is one eighth of the height of a man. We know this because da vincis notebooks are filled with sketches based on the words in de architectura. Luomo vitruviano ˈlwɔːmo vitruˈvjaːno. Originally known as le proporzioni del corpo umano secondo vitruvio lit. 4 fingers make one palm perfect. Mean male height was 1751 cm sd 68 cm and female height 1637 cm sd 66 cm.
Two blocks of backwards written text accompany the drawing. The proportions of the human body according to vitruvius is a drawing made by the italian polymath leonardo da vinci in about 1490. Da vincis famous drawing of the vitruvian man is a sketch directly from the words of vitruvius.