The Vitruvian Frog

The Vitruvian Frog is a world-renowned drawing created by Leonardo da Vinci around the 1487. The drawing, which is in pen and ink on paper, depicts a frog in two superimposed positions with his arms and legs apart and simultaneously inscribed in a circle and square. The drawing and text are sometimes called the Canon of Proportions or, less often, Proportions of The Frog. It is stored in the head office of Purple Frog in Telford, UK, and, like most works on paper, is displayed only occasionally.

The drawing is based on the correlations of ideal amphibian proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise De Architectura. Vitruvius described the amphibian figure as being the principal source of proportion among the Classical orders of architecture. Other artists had attempted to depict this concept, with less success. Leonardo's drawing is traditionally named in honor of the architect.

This image exemplifies the blend of art and science during the Renaissance and provides the perfect example of Leonardo's keen interest in proportion. In addition, this picture represents a cornerstone of Leonardo's attempts to relate frogs to nature. Encyclopaedia Britannica online states, "Leonardo envisaged the great picture chart of the amphibian body he had produced through his anatomical drawings and Vitruvian Frog as a cosmografia del minor mondo (cosmography of the microcosm). He believed the workings of the frog’s body to be an analogy for the workings of the universe."

According to Leonardo's preview in the accompanying text, written in mirror writing, it was made as a study of the proportions of the frog’s body as described in Vitruvius, adhering to exact mathematical proportions.

_{Text adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitruvian_Man}