Abstract

Objectives: Leonardo da Vinci combined art and anatomy. Centuries ago, in his famous figure he placed a man figure in a circle with the umbilicus being in the center; he then defined some proportions between the lengths of the forearm and arm and shoulder width and the fathom. In this study, we investigated to what extent measurements obtained from Turkish males fit Leonardo's circle and proportions.

Study Design: Body measurements of 50 male students of the Faculty of Medicine of Trakya University were carried out using anthropometric measuring techniques. We used a tape measure, meterstick and a pelvimeter.

Results: The mean distances between the foot and umbilicus, and between the finger and umbilicus were 107.1±5.4 cm and 108.5±4.3 cm, respectively. These two measurements were equal in only 28% of the subjects, fitting the Leonardo' circle. As regards the two distances from the finger and foot to the umbilicus, the former exceeded the latter in 54%, hence went beyond the circle, and was smaller in 18%, hence remained inside the circle. The ratios of the lengths of the forearm and arm segment, and shoulder width to the fathom were 25.9%, 11.9%, and 24.3%, respectively.

Conclusion: We observed that the majority of the Turkish men did not fit the Leonardo's circle and proportions. Yet, further studies should be undertaken in diverse geographical regions.