The Vitruvian Man is a famous pen-and-ink drawing by Leonardo da Vinci, made in a notebook around 1490. It shows a nude male figure in two superimposed positions, with arms and legs outstretched, inscribed in both a circle and a square. It illustrates a passage in the writings of the Roman architect Vitruvius, who claimed that the human body has ideal proportions that relate to geometry and so to the order of the universe. Leonardo's drawing, with his notes in mirror writing, combines art and science and is regarded as a symbol of the Renaissance ideal of the human being as the measure of all things. It is kept in the collection of the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice and shown only rarely.
Before and after
- 16 December 1485Birth of Catherine of Aragon
- from 1487 to 1491French–Breton War
- c. 1490sThe Last Supper
- from 1490 to 1598Siberian Khanate
- 1490Release of Vitruvian Man
- 1490Birth of Titian
- 1490Birth of Mimar Sinan
- 28 June 1491Birth of Henry VIII of England
- 1 November 1491Birth of Ignatius of Loyola
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The era
This moment belongs to the Medieval world (500 CE to 1500 CE), kingdoms, faiths and trade routes. You can also browse everything in the 15th century.