FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DaVinci Should Have Known Better
Chicago, Illinois, December 18, 2006
“Leonardo DaVinci should have drawn his famous Vitruvian Man figure to fit into a rectangle and ellipse instead of a circle and a square to show how the human form relates to nature. He got it wrong and he should have known better.” That’s the case made by Dan Tagliere, a Chicago metal sculptor, who offers a more science-based work that he calls “Ф Man. “
Vitruvian Man Ф Man
DaVinci’s version of the Vitruvian Man became famous because he successfully related the human figure to the square and the circle by positioning the feet of his male figure at the bottom of both. Why did he take up this task? Apparently, he wanted to illustrate and substantiate a two thousand year old mystical belief held by Pythagorus, the ancient Greek philosopher and Vitruvius the Roman architect. They believed that the square and the circle are the fundamental geometric patterns of the cosmic order and that therefore the human form should relate to them. Tagliere posits that DaVinci could have and should have related the human figure to the universe and nature by drawing it with the arms and legs reaching to the corners of a rectangle based on the Golden Ratio of 1:1.618. Why? It’s because this ratio is found in innumerable expressions of nature from flower petal arrangements to human body part relationships. Ironically, it is Pythagorus who is usually credited with discovering the Golden Ratio.
DaVinci knew about the Golden Ratio because the proportions of the body in his Vitruvian Man drawing are based on it. Some say even the arrangement of the facial features of the Mona Lisa are based on the Golden Ratio. Countless mathematicians, architects, scientists, artists, musicians, and designers have used the Golden Ratio. Phidius, the ancient Greek sculptor, may have used it to design the Parthenon. Euclid, who first defined it, called it the “Extreme and Mean Ratio.” DaVinci’s friend, one Luca Pacioli, popularized the Golden Ratio under the term, “Divine Proportions,” but terms such as “Golden Section,” “Golden Rectangle” and “Golden Triangle” have also been used to identify the ubiquitous 1:1.618 ratio. Today mathematicians use “Ф” or “φ” (the Greek upper or lower case letter Phi) to identify the Golden Ratio.
In his painted steel sculptural piece titled “Ф Man,” Tagliere has demonstrated how he believes DaVinci should have configured his Vitruvian Man drawing. The ellipse that frames the piece (24.1 x 39 inches) and the rectangle enclosing the human figure (18 x 29 inches) are both Golden Ratios. The style of the human form in the sculpture is “One-Line,” so called because the piece can be designed without lifting the pencil from the paper on which it is drawn. A Ф is inserted just below the navel location to mark the center of the sculpture.
For more information contact:
Daniel A. Tagliere
6415 N. Le Mai Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60646
Phone: 773-763-5868 Email: dantagliere@aol.com
(Daniel A. Tagliere reserves all rights for the Phi/Ф/ φ Man name and design. December 2006)