Research and summary art history - Assignment Example

By the 1480s, he was already studying many different fields. When he was working on the preparations for the Sforza monument, he started to study the human body, anatomy and physiology. These studies were often dismissed by his contemporaries as artistically unproductive whims of a mind that is restless. However, they have been acknowledged since the 19th century as forerunners in empirical science, showing accurate observation of natural phenomena. In his studies of the human body and anatomical studies, he was way ahead of his contemporaries.

Not long after 1489, he began compiling a systematic record of measurements of several young men. He recorded their measurements from the tips of the toes to the top of their heads in notes and sketches. He was also taking measurements of the horses he owned during the same period as argued by Leonardo et al (45). After months of taking measurements he arrived at a nearly complete overview of human proportions. He then began to look at them while sitting and kneeling. Eventually, he compared the results with the find outs on the Vitruvian man.

Leonardo mad several observations on human proportion. He worked with Luca Pacioli, a mathematician to consider the proportional theories of Vitruvius as presented in his treatise De architecture (Leonardo, Richter, and Bell 45). They imposed the principles of geometry on the configuration of the human body to demonstrate that the ideal proportion of the human figure corresponds with the forms of the circle and the square. His illustration demonstrated that when a man places his feet firmly on the ground and stretches his arms out, he can be contained within a square, but when stretched in a spread angle way, he can be inscribed in a circle.

The Vitruvian man shows an example of the blend of art and science during the Renaissance and gives an example of his keen interest in proportion