Four Books on Human Proportion

Beginning of the First Book.

A decorative calligraphic flourish.

First, when I set out and intend to create a human likeness original: "pildnus," referring here to a figure or representation, I make use of this method: I take a ruler original: "richtscheyt" longer than the figure is to be; on it, I draw a straight line as long as the figure should be, so that one end touches the highest point of the crown original: "scheytel" and the other the sole of the foot original: "soln". And whether a figure be tall or short, I draw for each figure its own individual line and divide it specifically. Therefore, as often as I hereafter name a part by its number, I always take it from the length of the whole figure between the crown and the sole.

Thus I carefully divide this length—which in its number is now one—into from two up to fifty or a hundred parts, as many as I may need. I mark them with points original: "punctire" on the ruler next to the long line, and set them all at the top equal to the height of the crown, and mark them all with their numerals, such as 2, 3, 4, etc. Through this method, the smallest numbers result in the longest parts, and the largest numbers result in the shortest parts. Dürer is describing a fractional scale where the number represents the divisor: "2" indicates 1/2 of the body's total height, while "10" indicates 1/10th. Thus, a larger number denotes a smaller fraction of the body. Thus, of the whole length, the half part is 2, the third part is 3, the fourth part is 4, and so on as mentioned above.

And when I need to, I also divide any previously determined part—be it long or short—into as many parts as I wish, even or odd. For whoever wishes to measure very precisely must make small subdivisions when he cannot reach everything with a single predetermined part. Therefore, I hereafter put together two or three types of numbers, large or small, even or odd, however I may come closest to the measurement. Such numbers, as I set them down hereafter, may also be reversed and used or applied according to each person's pleasure. But for better understanding, I will draw the divider original: "teyler," a scale or proportional gauge now described; for this divider must first be made correctly and certainly. Otherwise, much time and effort would be spent if I always had to search for every length of a named part within the total length between the crown and the sole.

A decorative calligraphic flourish.

A technical diagram on the right side of the page. It features a long vertical line representing the total height of a human figure. At the top, the line is labeled "Scheytel" (Crown) and "Teiler" (Divider). To the right of this main line, nine shorter vertical lines of varying lengths are drawn, all starting from the same top point. These are labeled with numerals from 2 to 10, visually demonstrating how the figure's height is divided into halves, thirds, fourths, and so on. At the bottom of the main vertical line is the label "Soln" (Sole).