The text provides a detailed method for drawing the human arm, emphasizing its necessity and utility. It instructs on dividing the arm into four parts for accurate representation, offering guidance on muscle formation and detailing changes by contrasting two illustrative arms. The importance of careful sketching and shading, previously discussed in relation to legs and feet, is reiterated.
The First Part
Chapter XXII
Because without an arm, our body is completely useless, being a very necessary limb, I wanted to give you an extremely simple rule to draw it. As you can see in sketch A, which represents the arm of a strong and robust man, it is necessary to sketch it by dividing it into four parts from the size of the elbow, thus achieving perfection, i.e., each section labeled by the letters A, B, C, and D, with a final section at E. This way, alterations can be seen by sketching another arm on the inside like the first figure shows. After drawing it, forming the muscles inside is very easy, but when shading with the pen, you must be cautious, as I have already described for the legs and feet.
Translation Notes:
- "Homo" refers to "man" in Latin, denoting a person of strength and robustness.
- "Perfection" is used to denote precision in anatomical drawing.