The text discusses the proportions of the human body in art, emphasizing the importance of correct limb size and length. It highlights how experienced individuals have documented rules for these proportions, aiding young artists in their learning process and preventing them from having to do extensive personal research. The text also references renowned antique sculptures that can serve as models for understanding human proportions.
THE DRAWING.
CHAPTER SECOND.
Rules on the proportion of the human body.
The proportion of the human body consists in the correct length and size of its limbs. Several excellent men have studied this science with much effort and deep reflection, and have generously shared with the public the rules for beautiful proportion of the human body, along with all the discoveries they've made. They have thus spared young artists the fatigue that comes when trying to research this themselves, believing that students would make quicker progress in the art of drawing, and proceed more confidently down a well-trodden path. These rules can be found in the writings of various authors who have dealt with painting; some have even written entire books on the subject of the human body's proportion. However, since it would be too lengthy to recount them all here, and because it's quite challenging to reconcile the views of many on this point, we will only provide an excerpt that shows the results of their observations. One can also refer to the so-called Antique figures, measuring those considered highly esteemed, such as the Farnese Hercules, Apollo of the Vatican, Venus de Medici, Laocoön, Antinous or the Lantin, the Meleager, the children of Niobe, etc., and some others crafted by the most skilled sculptors of antiquity, which we will have the opportunity to discuss later in this work.