Four Books on Human Proportion

A iiij

...longer and stronger than the front ones The "front" limbs here refer to the arms, as Dürer compares human anatomy to the four-legged animals discussed in earlier theoretical traditions., as is observed in humans. I treat the body here as one long part—although it is assembled from many pieces, it is yet a single unit—strong enough to move the other limbs. These three lengths shall be held in proportion to one another: just as the length of the body relates to the upper leg, so shall the length of the upper leg relate to the length of the shinbone original: "schinbein". However, I do not use this for all figures; I will do it as follows:

I draw a triangle original: "triangel" a.b.c. / a.b. shall be the horizontal side, but b.c. the vertical one, so that b. remains a right angle. Then I divide the vertical side b.c. with two points into three equal fields, and draw two straight lines from the angle a. to the two points d. and e. From this, I seek the proportion as follows:

I take a straightedge original: "richtscheit" and mark upon it with two points the length of the body, measured between the pit of the throat original: "halßgrůblein"; the small hollow at the base of the neck. and the end of the hip. Likewise, below that, the end of the outer ankle bone original: "knorren"; referring here to the lateral malleolus at the bottom of the shin. at the bottom of the shin; I label the top point of the throat pit with an f. and the end of the hip with a g., while the end of the shin is marked with an h. Afterward, I take this straightedge and place point g. on line a.d. of the aforementioned triangle, and I do not let this point leave that line; however, I slide the straightedge back and forth on the line until point f. at the top touches the triangle's line a.c. and the bottom point h. touches the horizontal line a.b.

Once I have done this, the line a.e. intersects the straightedge between g. and h. and, together with the length of the body, creates three proportional parts; I mark this point with an i. Thus it follows: as the length f.g. relates to the length g.i., so does the length g.i. relate to the length i.h. In modern terms, Dürer is using the triangle to create a geometric progression where the ratio between the torso and thigh is identical to the ratio between the thigh and shin. Thus, I mark at point f. the height of the throat pit, at point g. the end of the hip, at point i. the middle of the knee original: "kny", and at point h. the end of the shinbone. It is also to be noted that when I place my straightedge in the triangle, I tilt the top at point f. toward the vertical side c.b.

This triangle may well be called a comparator original: "vergleicher"; a tool for creating equal ratios.. This method may also be used in reverse if one wishes to invert something. Many other useful things are brought into the work through this method by those who can use it correctly. Now I set this height i. into the figure that I will draw hereafter, and place the knee at that same spot; then I measure further.

From the middle of the knee upward to the kneecap: a 21st part.

A bracketed list of measurements indicating the vertical divisions of the leg from the knee downward.
From the middle of the knee downward:
{ a 40th part, where I end the knee.
{ two 19th parts, where I end the outer calf original: "waden".
{ an 8th part, where I end the inner calf.

And before I go further, I will draw this triangle, the comparator, here opposite.