The text explains proportions and measurements of the human body in relation to drawing. It describes specific body parts and the concept of measuring using "faces" and "noses" as units. The passage emphasizes maintaining accurate proportions when depicting figures, noting that some standard measurements may seem exaggerated, like the size of the foot.
Method for Learning
Above the knee, two faces; the knee has a half-face: from the bottom of the knee to the heel, two faces: from there to below the sole, a half-face.
When a person extends their arms, they are as long from the longest finger of the right hand to that of the left hand as they are in height; this is measured as follows: from one side of the breasts to the other, there are two faces: the arm bone, called the humerus, which is the bone of the shoulder, has two faces in length from the shoulder to the elbow. From the end of the elbow to the first joint of the little finger, the bone called the ulna, with part of the hand, contains two faces: from the joint of the shoulder blade to the pit between the collarbones, one face.
To be accurate with the above measurements, note that the joints of the elbow with the humerus and the humerus with the shoulder blade cover a half-face when the arms are extended.
The bottom of the foot is the sixth part of the entire figure (a); the hand has the length of one face. And the thumb contains a nose of length.
The inside of the arm from where the muscle that creates the breasts, called the Pectoral, is lost to the middle of the arm, has four noses of length. From the middle of the arm to the start of the hand, there are five nose lengths: the longest toe has one nose in length. Moreover, the two ends of the nipples and the pit between the collarbones form a perfect triangle in women as in men.
(a) It is important to note that this proportion makes the foot too large.
Translation Notes:
The term "nose" used in this text refers to a unit of length, not a literal nose.