Vitruvian Man

Vitruvian Man
Much of the Renaissance thinking about proportion was derived from the
influential architectural treatises of Vitruvius (Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, first
century BC). Passages from his De architectura inspired Leonardo and others to
map the proportions of the human body. The following images provide quite
different approaches to the problem of relating the human body to the ideal
geometry of the square and the circle, whose perfection symbolized the cosmos
itself. Underlying these drawings is the famous and long-lasting notion that
man was a microcosm of divine creation.
How would you compare these drawings?
The first is the iconic image by Leonardo da Vinci:
The next two images are later, from an edition of Vitruvius by Cesare
Cesariano (1475-1543), published with Italian translation and commentary in
Como, 1521.
Finally, a sketch of a Church design drawn by the architect Francesco di
Giorgio, showing how (to borrow the Renaissance dictum) ‘Man was the
measure of all things’: