Vitruvian Man is a pen, brown ink and wash over metalpoint drawing by Leonardo da Vinci, dated to around 1490, depicting a nude male figure in two superimposed positions, arms and legs apart, inscribed within a circle and a square. It illustrates the proportional theory of the Roman architect Vitruvius, recorded in Leonardo's own accompanying notes as Le proporzioni del corpo umano secondo Vitruvio, The Proportions of the Human Figure after Vitruvius. Together with the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, it is one of the most reproduced images in the history of Western art, and because of its fragility on paper it is displayed only rarely.
Facts
Year CreatedConventionally dated circa 1490; Leonardo did not date the sheet himself. MediumPen and brown ink, with traces of brown wash, over metalpoint, on paper 1 LocationGallerie dell'Accademia, Venice, Italy 1 Medium
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Additional Source Vitruvian Man (Wikipedia)Vitruvian Man, lead section
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Source Wikipedia
Additional Source Vitruvian Man (Wikipedia)Vitruvian Man, Description/Composition section
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1. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationGenre referenceQuote, Genre reference
Vitruvian Man is a pen, brown ink and wash over metalpoint drawing by Leonardo da Vinci, dated to around 1490, depicting a nude male figure in two superimposed positions, arms and legs apart, inscribed within a circle and a square.
2. Vitruvian Man (Wikipedia)
lead paragraph
Vitruvian Man (Italian: L'uomo vitruviano) is a drawing by the Italian Renaissance artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci, dated to c. 1490. Inspired by the Roman architect Vitruvius, it depicts a nude man in two overlapping stand
Vitruvian Man, lead section
a drawing by the Italian Renaissance artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci, dated to c. 1490
Vitruvian Man, Description/Composition section
The drawing was executed primarily with pen and light-brown ink, while there are traces of brown wash (watercolor).
Lead section
It was then owned by Giuseppe Bossi, before being acquired in 1822 by the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice, where it remains.
In Group: Anatomical and Proportion Studies, Lead
The drawing illustrates Leonardo's study of ideal human proportions, derived from Vitruvius but refined through his own observations, contemporary works, and the treatise De pictura by Leon Battista Alberti.
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