We are all familiar with the drawing by Leonardo da Vinci showing the porportions of man. The drawing is usually called Vitruvian Man because it is based on the proportions written about by the Roman architect Vitruvius.
Okay, about ten years ago I saw a calender of Leonardo’s artwork in a Boston bookstore. One of the 12 pieces of art was Vitruvian Man. Another one of the 12 was just the same, except it was of a woman. I’ll call it Vitruvian Woman. Now the question: Is this something that Leonardo actually drew, or was it something a modern artist drew in the style of Leonardo? As far as I know, all the other pieces of art in the calander were really by Leonardo. I remember that the Last Supper was among them.
And no, it’s not “Premenstrual in a postmodern age No. 2” by Judy Horacek. The one in the calender was a little more sophisticated than that. It looked exactly like Vitruvian Man, but with a woman instead of a man.
I would almost swear I have seen the same drawing. But no catalog of da Vinci art I can find on the 'net (so far) contains it.
The Ryan’s question now seems less implausible since you say ‘exactly’, but I am almost sure you refer to style and not proportion. Unfortunately I am not an expert. I barely remember that Leonardo painted 'Whistler’s mother".
I don’t know. I’ve read some da Vinci and gone through collections of his artwork, and I’ve never heard of this one. My guess is that it’s a modern piece “done in the style of”.
If you really want to know, go to the BPL or some other large library and look through the big books on da Vinci in the Art section. At least one should have a listing of his known works.
Women do no have the same proportions as men. Women the world over have (relatively speaking) narrower shoulders and wider hips than men do. And we love them for it. - These differences can be difficult to see in people who are standing still, but are easy to see in people who are moving- say, walking.
Also even though the image of the man is practically an icon, I do not recall ever seeing a woman drawn by Leon in that style. My guess is it’s not his work. - MC
Leonardo illustrated a treatise on proportions/the golden mean by Luca Pacioli in the late 1490’s-- what you saw might have been from this (it has a lot of figures of polygons and human proportions). Considering the ASSLOAD of drawings that he did, the fact that this one is not among the 10 that we are most familar with doesn’t seem to me to preclude the possibility.
The Vitruvian proportions demonstrated by the drawing relate overall armspan and height to a square and circle centered in the upper abdomen. Shoulder and hip width would have about as much affect as the natural variation in heights and limb lengths. The Vitruvian man is a geometrical ideal, not an anotomical demonstration.