Chapter 3: “Analogy, Proportion, or measurement of the Parts of a Human Body”

In: Karel van Mander and his Foundation of the Noble, Free Art of Painting
Author:
Walter S. Melion
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Chapter
Pages:
226–229
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004523074_007
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Analogy, Proportion, or measurement of the Parts of a Human Body

The Third Chapter

(1) Proportion, or a pure state of correspondent relation,113
Is (as Plutarch states in this connection)
A fine, precious ornament of Nature.114
Vitruvius (inherently Artful) calls
This Proportion, whether in buildings or figures,
A certain conformation of the limbs,
Or an ordering of a building’s component parts,
Well governed by the [rules of] Art.
(2) For, as he declares, the Human Body
May be likened to a majestic Temple.115*
This accords well with what the Lord spoke
When he said that the Temple would be destroyed,
Meaning the Temple of his innocent Body.116
The form of a virtuous Person’s body
Is noble, a wonder of Nature,
Assembled with exceptional art.
(3) From the place where hair begins to grow at the brow,
To the point beneath the chin—what we call the face –
Is one-tenth of the body as a whole,*
Gauged by length; so, too,
The length of the hand
From the point where the arm can bend
To its furthermost tip, measured to the end of the middle finger,
Shall match and precisely agree with the measurement of the face.
(4) Were one to measure the dimensions of the whole
Head, from crown to chin, one would find
It to be one-eighth of the Body’s length; and were one*
To stretch a string from behind the crown of the head to the base of the neck,
One would again have an eighth; and moving down
From the hairline of the brow
To the summit of a Man’s chest,
One would find a section of exactly one-sixth.
(5) If you measure higher, to the crown of the head,
You shall see one-fourth of the Body;
If you seek to measure the length of the face:
From the hairline to the eyes,
Just above the nose, between the eyebrows,*
Is one third; in constructing the face,
The nose is one part, and from the nostrils
To below the chin is another part, equal in measure.117
(6) The foot, from where the heel begins to turn*
To the end of the second toe is, in all candor,
Found to be one-sixth of the Body;
The Cubit also, construed as the arm**
From its joint, the elbow,
To the tip of the long middle finger, shall
Always constitute one-fourth of the Body.
Thus does the structure of the body have its fixed particulars.118
(7) Now, the torso, measured from the start of the belly,
Just above the navel, to underneath the chin,*
Keeps to the same measured course:
Set one point of a long compass on the navel
Of a Man laid out flat,
His [limbs] stretched a far as they will go,
And with the other point inscribe a circle, in the round,
And you shall then find that it just touches the tips of the toes and fingers.
(8) Just as the Navel of this Man’s Body
Appears to be its natural center point,
And as this perfect circular form*
Is detectable in him, so one also finds present
In him the likeness of a true square.
Liberally measure from the top of his head to the soles of his feet,
Again to the tips of his arms and fingers,
And he shall conform himself to the same dimensions.119
(9) Such a precept Vitruvius set before me,
And see, Pliny, too, holds by it:120
Namely, that a Man is as tall
As [his arms] can reach; in life, one also encounters this
And can put it amply to the test.
Now, there are those who have
Compiled many books on Proportional Measurement,
Amongst whom Dürer is not to be outmatched.121
(10) Be that as it may, as regards minutes or the parts of the thumb*
And many other perplexing details of this sort,
I have no intention of clearing so wide a path for up-and-coming Painters.
The working methods of great Masters or Sculptors
Are for Youths like inimitable traces.122
I have heard Painters aptly say**
That those who measure much, keep measuring steadily,
And finally achieve nothing much at all.123
(11) Vitruvius, one of the cleverest Titans
Of the Architect’s Art, points the way to no perilous
Paths, lest one go astray;
For see, in measuring heads, feet, and noses,
Youths are perforce advised to measure
From a Man’s head down to the soles of his feet,
Eight heads, each head being four noses long.125
To measure in this way, I find expeditious and serviceable.
(12) In order rightly to measure a Man eight heads tall,*
Without [undue] vexation, one shall endeavor to position
His body on a plumb line,
Counting one part from the top of the head to the chin,
Another from the chin to midway between the nipples,
Then from there to the navel, and further, to the genitals,
Numbers four; the other four must needs be:
Halfway down the thighs, then to the knees, the midpoint of the shins, and the soles of the feet.126
(13) In measuring [the body’s] width, one shall also be guided thus:
From right to left, whether clothed or unclothed,*
A Man’s shoulders [should be] two heads wide, the hips
Two faces wide; now, the edifice of a Woman’s body
Is just as long, but the width of the hips
Amounts to just twice the measure of the head,
And the shoulders, unlike those of men,
Are the span of but two faces.127
(14) But the muscles of little Women, lacking hardness,*
Must instead recede with the utmost softness
Or delicately disappear,
The flesh being full, with small creases and folds,
And the hands with little hollows, like those of Children.
Now, Children having been brought to mind:**
In the small, five heads high,
Three to their private parts, two to their thighs and lower legs.128
(15) One comes across various proportions*
In life, the squat and the slim:
Children (as Pliny explains) are grown
Only half so tall at three years old:130
Now, you up and coming Painters, be grateful for this snippet.
I shall further teach you how
Assuredly to position a figure, set it to work, activate it,
Thereby to put proper decorum into effect.

End of Proportion.

Footnotes

*

A Human Body and its limbs compared to a Temple and its component parts.

*

A Man is ten faces tall, and can reach as far as he is tall.

*

A Man is eight heads in length.

*

A Man’s face is three noses long.

*

A Man’s foot, measured by length, is one-sixth of his total height.

**

A Man’s height is four Cubits. Amongst the Ancients, the Cubit was six palms: each palm was four thumbs, and four palms made a foot.

*

A Man’s navel is his center point.

*

A Man can be inscribed within a circle and a square.

*

According to the Geometers’ measurements, minutes or grains are one-fourth of the cross-section of a finger; four fingers make three thumbs. Five minutes equal one ounce; one degree equals two feet.124

**

Too much measuring is useless or of little use to Painters, whose goal is to paint well: whereas measurement is crucial to Sculptors.

*

The lengthwise measurement of the body, to be taken from a plumb line hanging down its middle axis.

*

A Woman and a Man share one set of proportions: but the Man’s shoulders are a nose wider, and the Woman’s hips likewise wider by a nose.

*

The flesh of women is fuller than that of Men.129

**

Children are five heads tall, and half so tall at three years old as they shall become.

*

One has seen figures by Michelangelo nine, ten, even twelve heads tall, made thus to bend and turn gracefully; he said that the Compass must be in the eye, not the hand.131

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Karel van Mander and his Foundation of the Noble, Free Art of Painting

First English Translation, with Introduction and Commentary

Series:  Brill’s Studies on Art, Art History, and Intellectual History, Volume: 62
Cover Karel van Mander and his <i>Foundation of the Noble, Free Art of Painting</i>
E-Book ISBN:
9789004523074
Publisher:
Brill
Print Publication Date:
20 Sep 2022
Front Matter
Introduction “ ‘Pictura’s Cornerstone’: Karel van Mander and His Foundation of the Noble, free Art of Painting”
Illustrations
Den Grondt: The Foundation of the Noble, free Art of Painting: In which her form, origin, and nature are placed before the eyes of inquisitive Youth, in discrete Parts, in Rhymed Verse.
Dedicatory Prefaces, Preface to the Foundation of the Noble, Free Art of Painting, and Selection of Preliminary Poems on the Grondt
Chapter 1: “Exhortation, or Admonition to up and coming young Painters”
Chapter 2: “On Drawing, or the Art of Delineating”
Chapter 4: “On the Attitude, Decorum, and Decorous Motion of a Human Figure”
Chapter 5: “On the Ordonnance and Invention of Histories”
Chapter 6: “Portrayal of the Affects, Passions, Desires, and Sorrows of Persons”
Chapter 7: “On Reflection, Reverberation, re-reflected luster, or re-reflection”
Chapter 8: “On Landscape”
Chapter 9: “On Cattle, Animals, and Birds”
Chapter 10: “On Fabrics or Drapery”
Chapter 11: “On Sorting and Combining Colors”
Chapter 12: “On Painting Well, or Coloring”
Chapter 13: “On the Origin, Nature, Force, and Effect of Colors”
Chapter 14: “On the Interpretation of Colors, and What They Can Signify”
Register of Commonplaces: “Table of the Foundation of the Art of Painting”
Commentary
Illustrations

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