Vitruvian Man

We can't leave Tuscany without paying our respects to one of its most famous sons - leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo was a Florentine by allegience, and at one stage served as an engineer in Florence's battle against Pisa in the early 1500s.

Leonardo's famous drawing and notes, entitled Vitruvian Man, was created around 1487. It depicts a nude male figure in two superimposed positions with his arms and legs apart and simultaneously inscribed in a circle and square. It was made as a study of the proportions of the (male) human body as described in Vitruvius. Leonardo believed the workings of the human body to be an analogy for the workings of the universe. It is also believed by some that Leonardo symbolized the material existence by the square and spiritual existence by the circle. Thus he attempted to depict the correlation between these two aspects of human existence.

Today you can find this work referenced in so many images. Many medical bodies use it in one form or another.

I'm off travelling (currently in Lucca), and as I won't be taking any new shots of Sydney for a few weeks, and I've not taken a computer, I'm not sure I'll be able to post photos. So, I'm publishing some of my art works in the form of Artist Trading Cards. These small canvases are made on card of 69 x 89 mm dimensions (3.5 x 5.5 inches). They are made to trade with other artists, as the name implies. It is extremely bad form to sell them. Any medium can be used, but my preferred method of creation is by using rubber stamps and inks.