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While there is significant variation in anatomical proportions between people, there are many references to body proportions that are intended to be canonical, either in art
Art

Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music and literature....
, measurement
Measurement

Measurement is the process of assigning a number to an attribute according to a rule or set of rules. The term can also be used to refer to the result obtained after performing the process....
, or medicine
Medicine

Medicine is the art and science of healing. It encompasses a range of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
.

In measurement
Measurement

Measurement is the process of assigning a number to an attribute according to a rule or set of rules. The term can also be used to refer to the result obtained after performing the process....
, body proportions are often used to relate two or more measurements based on the body. A cubit
Cubit

File:Cubit rule Egyptian NK from Liverpool museum.jpgA cubit is the first recorded unit of length and was one of many different standards of measurement used through history....
, for instance, is supposed to be six palms
Palm (unit)

A palm, when used as a unit of length, is usually four digit s or three inches, i.e. 1 E-2 m .In English unit, this unit has mostly fallen out of use, as have others based on the human arm: digit , finger , hand , shaftment , span , cubit and ell ....
. While convenient, these ratios may not reflect the physiognomic variation of the individuals using them.

Similarly, in art
Art

Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music and literature....
, body proportions are the study of relation of human body
Human body

The human body is the entire physical and mental structure of a human organism, and consists of a head, neck, torso, two arms and two legs.By the time the human reaches adulthood, the body consists of close to 10 trillion Cell , the basic unit of life....
, or in general, animal body, parts to each other and the whole.






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While there is significant variation in anatomical proportions between people, there are many references to body proportions that are intended to be canonical, either in art
Art

Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music and literature....
, measurement
Measurement

Measurement is the process of assigning a number to an attribute according to a rule or set of rules. The term can also be used to refer to the result obtained after performing the process....
, or medicine
Medicine

Medicine is the art and science of healing. It encompasses a range of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
.

In measurement
Measurement

Measurement is the process of assigning a number to an attribute according to a rule or set of rules. The term can also be used to refer to the result obtained after performing the process....
, body proportions are often used to relate two or more measurements based on the body. A cubit
Cubit

File:Cubit rule Egyptian NK from Liverpool museum.jpgA cubit is the first recorded unit of length and was one of many different standards of measurement used through history....
, for instance, is supposed to be six palms
Palm (unit)

A palm, when used as a unit of length, is usually four digit s or three inches, i.e. 1 E-2 m .In English unit, this unit has mostly fallen out of use, as have others based on the human arm: digit , finger , hand , shaftment , span , cubit and ell ....
. While convenient, these ratios may not reflect the physiognomic variation of the individuals using them.

Similarly, in art
Art

Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music and literature....
, body proportions are the study of relation of human body
Human body

The human body is the entire physical and mental structure of a human organism, and consists of a head, neck, torso, two arms and two legs.By the time the human reaches adulthood, the body consists of close to 10 trillion Cell , the basic unit of life....
, or in general, animal body, parts to each other and the whole. These ratios are used in veristic depictions of the figure, and also become part of an aesthetic canon within a culture.

Some common proportional relationships for human
Human

A human being, also human or man, is a member of a species of bipedalism primates in the family Hominidae . Mitochondrial DNA evidence indicates that modern humans originated in east Africa about 200,000 years ago....
 in European art are:

Body:


  • The average adult human figure is about 7 to 7.5 head
    Head

    In anatomy, the head of an animal is the rostral part that usually comprises the brain, eyes, ears, nose, and mouth . Some very simple animals may not have a head, but many bilateria do....
    s tall.
  • The idealized human figure is traditionally represented as being 8 heads tall:
    1. head
      Head

      In anatomy, the head of an animal is the rostral part that usually comprises the brain, eyes, ears, nose, and mouth . Some very simple animals may not have a head, but many bilateria do....
    2. from the bottom of the head
      Head

      In anatomy, the head of an animal is the rostral part that usually comprises the brain, eyes, ears, nose, and mouth . Some very simple animals may not have a head, but many bilateria do....
       to the middle height of a chest
      Chest

      The chest is a part of the anatomy of humans and various other animals sometimes referred to as the thorax....
       (place where a man's nipple
      Nipple

      In its most general form, a nipple is a structure from which a fluid emanates. More specifically, it is the projection on the breasts of a mammal by which breast milk is delivered to a mother's young....
      s should be)
    3. from previous position to the navel
      Navel

      The navel is a scar on the abdomen, caused when the umbilical cord is removed from a newborn baby. All Placentalia mammals have a navel. It is fairly conspicuous in humans....
    4. from previous position to (upper edge of) the pubis
      Pubis (bone)

      The android pubic bone is the ventral and anterior of the three principal bones composing either half of the pelvis.It is covered by a layer of fat, which is covered by the mons pubis....
    5. from previous position to the middle height of thigh
      Thigh

      In human anatomy the thigh is the area between the pelvis and the knee. Anatomically, it is part of the Human leg.The single bone in the thigh is called the femur....
    6. from previous position to the middle height of a calf
      Calf muscle

      The calf or gastroc-soleus is a pair of muscles—the gastrocnemius muscle and soleus muscle—at the back of the lower human leg....
    7. from previous position to the point just below the ankle
      Ankle

      In human anatomy, the ankle joint is formed where the foot and the human leg meet. The ankle, or talocrural joint, is a synovial hinge joint that connects the distal ends of the tibia and fibula in the lower limb with the proximal end of the talus bone in the foot....
      s
    8. from previous position to the feet
      Foot

      The foot is an anatomical structure found in many animals. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg made up of one or more segments or bones, generally including claws or nails....
  • The pubis
    Pubis (bone)

    The android pubic bone is the ventral and anterior of the three principal bones composing either half of the pelvis.It is covered by a layer of fat, which is covered by the mons pubis....
    , or its upper edge, is at mid-height of the average adult figure.
  • The length of the shin
    Shin

    Shin may refer to:* Shinbone, the larger of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates* Shin Buddhism, a widely practiced branch of Buddhism...
     is equal to the length of the hip for an average adult figure.
  • When the body stands upright, the length of the arm
    Arm

    In anatomy, an arm is one of the upper limbs of an animal. The term arm can also be used for analogous structures, such as one of the paired upper limbs of a four-legged animal, or the cephalopod arm....
     is such that the finger
    Finger

    A finger is a type of digit , an organ of manipulation and sensation found in the hands of humans and other primates.Normally humans have five digits, termed phalanges, on each hand ....
     tips come down to mid-thigh.
  • The arms' wingspan (measured from the tips of the middle fingers) is about equal to the body height.
  • The length of the foot
    Foot

    The foot is an anatomical structure found in many animals. It is the terminal portion of a limb which bears weight and allows locomotion. In many animals with feet, the foot is a separate organ at the terminal part of the leg made up of one or more segments or bones, generally including claws or nails....
     is about equal to the length of the forearm
    Forearm

    The forearm is the structure on the upper limb, between the Elbow-joint and the wrist.. This term is used in anatomy to distinguish it from the arm ....
    .


Head:

  • The eye
    Eye

    Eyes are Organ that detect light, and send signals along the optic nerve to the visual system and other areas of the brain. Complex optical systems with resolving power have come in ten fundamentally different forms, and 96% of animal species possess a complex optical system....
    s are at the mid-height of the head.
  • The head also can be divided into thirds - from the top of the head to the bottom of the forehead
    Forehead

    In human anatomy, the forehead or brow is the bony part of the head above the eyes....
    , from the bottom of the forehead to the bottom of the nose
    Nose

    Anatomically, a nose is a protuberance in vertebrates that houses the nostrils, or nares, which admit and expel air for Respiration in conjunction with the mouth....
    , and then from there to the bottom of the chin
    CHIN

    CHIN may refer to:* Canadian Heritage Information Network, a government agency in Canada that promotes Canadian culture and heritage on the Internet...
    .
  • The width of the head is between four and five eyes wide.
  • The nose
    Nose

    Anatomically, a nose is a protuberance in vertebrates that houses the nostrils, or nares, which admit and expel air for Respiration in conjunction with the mouth....
     is the length of the first two notches (joints) of the index finger(from tip) when measured against the very beginning of the nose bridge to the end of the nose.
  • The height of the face
    Face

    The term face refers to the central sense organ complex, for those animals that have one, normally on the ventral surface of the head and can depending on the definition in the human case, include the hair, forehead, eyebrow, eyes, nose, ears, cheeks, mouth, lips, philtrum, tooth, skin, and chin....
     is about equal to the length of the hand
    Hand

    The hands are the two intricate, prehensile, multi-fingered body parts normally located at the end of each arm of a human or other primate. They are the chief organs for physically manipulating the environment, using anywhere from the roughest motor skills to the finest , and since the fingertips contain some of the densest areas of nerve e...
    .
  • The eyes are separated by a distance of one eye width.
  • The bottom of the nose to the corner of the eye is equal to the height of the ear
    Ear

    The ear is the sense organ that detects sounds. The vertebrate ear shows a common biology from fish to humans, with variations in structure according to order and species....
    .
  • The width of the base of the nose
    Nose

    Anatomically, a nose is a protuberance in vertebrates that houses the nostrils, or nares, which admit and expel air for Respiration in conjunction with the mouth....
     is equal to the width of the eye
    Eye

    Eyes are Organ that detect light, and send signals along the optic nerve to the visual system and other areas of the brain. Complex optical systems with resolving power have come in ten fundamentally different forms, and 96% of animal species possess a complex optical system....
    .
  • The width of the mouth is equal to the distance between pupil
    Pupil

    The pupil is the sphere that is located in the center of the Iris of the eye and that controls the amount of light that enters the eye. It appears black because most of the light entering the pupil is absorbed by the biological tissue inside the eye....
    s, or the width of two eye
    Eye

    Eyes are Organ that detect light, and send signals along the optic nerve to the visual system and other areas of the brain. Complex optical systems with resolving power have come in ten fundamentally different forms, and 96% of animal species possess a complex optical system....
    s.


These ratios may not always reflect the actual shape of the model's body, if there is a model. In other cultures, different ratios may be emphasized for different aesthetic effect.

In ancient Greek sculpture, the male figure is traditionally shown seven "heads" tall, with the torso (clavicle
Clavicle

In human anatomy, the clavicle or collar bone is classified as a flat bone that makes up part of the shoulder girdle . It receives its name from the Latin clavicula because the bone rotates along its axis like a key when the shoulder is Abduction ....
s to iliac crest
Iliac crest

The crest of the Ilium is the superior border of the wing of ilium and the superolateral margin of the greater pelvis. Palpation in its entire length, it is convex in its general outline but is sinuously curved, being concave inward in front, concave outward behind....
), thigh (iliac crest
Iliac crest

The crest of the Ilium is the superior border of the wing of ilium and the superolateral margin of the greater pelvis. Palpation in its entire length, it is convex in its general outline but is sinuously curved, being concave inward in front, concave outward behind....
 to knee
Knee

----The knee is the lower extremity joint connecting the femur, patella, and the tibia and the surrounding anatomical region which includes the popliteal fossa, also known as "knee pit"....
) and shin (knee
Knee

----The knee is the lower extremity joint connecting the femur, patella, and the tibia and the surrounding anatomical region which includes the popliteal fossa, also known as "knee pit"....
 to sole
Sole

Sole may refer to:* Sole , the bottom of the foot* Sole , the bottom supporting member of the shoe* Sole , several species and groups of flatfishes:...
) each accounting for the height of two "heads", albeit the "head" is considered as including the height of neck. This produces proportions that show the head smaller and the legs longer than reality.

See also

  • The Kanon of Polykleitos
    Polykleitos

    Polykleitos ; called the Elder, was a Ancient Greece Sculpture in bronze of the fifth and the early fourth century BC. Next to Phidias, Myron and Kresilas, he is considered the most important sculptor of Classical antiquity: the fourth-century catalogue attributed to Xenocrates , which was Pliny's guide in matters of art, ranked him between...
  • Vitruvian Man
    Vitruvian Man

    The Vitruvian Man is a world-renowned drawing with accompanying notes created by Leonardo da Vinci around the year 1487 as recorded in one of his journals....
  • Andrew Loomis
    Andrew Loomis

    William Andrew Loomis was an illustrator from the United States. He was born in New York, but spent most of his working life in Chicago. He is best remembered now for a series of art instruction books that continues to influence realist artists, though they are in 2004 all out of print, except for some excerpts available from the art publish...
  • Body shape
    Body shape

    Human body shape is a complex phenomenon with sophisticated detail and function. The general shape or figure of a person is defined mainly by skeletal structure, muscles and fat....
  • Female body shape
    Female body shape

    Female body shape has a bearing on a wide range of human activities, and there are and have been widely different ideals of it in different cultures and at different times....