The text discusses Leonardo da Vinci's observations on human balance and weight distribution, particularly when a person carries a load. It describes the importance of the shoulder's position while carrying a burden and how balance involves distributing weight effectively. The explanation includes concepts of simple and composite balance as fundamental to understanding human motion and rest.
OF THE HUMAN FIGURE.
... this is what Leonardo da Vinci explains in these terms:
The man's shoulder carrying a burden is always higher than the other shoulder, which is not loaded; this is seen in the following figure (plate 21, fig. 2), where the central line of the entire weight of the man's body and his load passes, which blends and composes the weight. If it were not that it is distributed equally over the center of the leg that supports the load, everything would necessarily fall to the ground. But nature, in this necessity, could allow such a part of the body's weight to be thrown to the opposite side of this external load, to give it balance and counterweight. This cannot be done without the man bending toward the lighter side until this bending makes him participate in this accidental weight he bears. Moreover, this cannot happen unless the shoulder supporting the load rises, and the lighter, unburdened shoulder lowers; and this is the means by which industrious necessity operates in such an encounter. Leonardo da Vinci, chap. CC.
The first figure of the same plate shows that the man, whether burdened or not, must have the center of his weight on the center of the leg that stands on the ground.
The balancing, or equilibrium, of the human figure is divided into two parts: simple and composite. Simple balance is what a man achieves by standing on his feet without moving. For...
Translation Notes:
- The term "fardeau" is used to describe a 'burden' or 'load'.
- "Pondération" refers to 'balancing' or 'equilibrium'.
- "L'industieuse nécessité" suggests 'resourceful necessity'.