What is the name of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous drawing of a male figure in two superimposed positions? It is the Vitruvian Man. Leonardo created the pen-and-ink drawing around 1490 while studying the proportions of the human body and the ideas of the Roman architect Vitruvius.
The figure appears in two overlapping poses: one with arms and legs extended so the body fits a circle, and another with the arms held horizontally and the feet together within a square. Leonardo’s accompanying notes explain proportional relationships, including the idea that a person’s arm span roughly equals their height. The image unites Renaissance art, geometry, anatomy, and classical learning.
The drawing is not simply a portrait of a particular man. It is a visual investigation of ideal human proportions, refined through Leonardo’s observations and earlier writings by Vitruvius and Leon Battista Alberti. The paper is about 34.4 by 24.5 centimetres and is held by the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice. It is often confused with Leonardo’s paintings, but the Vitruvian Man is a study drawing rather than a mural or panel painting.