ABSTRACT
The chapter focuses on Albrecht Dürer's lifelong study of the human body, and his attempt to write a textbook for young artists. In his quest to define human beauty, he developed an elaborate system of proportions, drawing on his study of works by Leon Battista Alberti, Luca Pacioli, Pomponio Gaurico and others. Unlike the Italian artists and theorists, Dürer designed his theory to apply to men, women and children. Dürer's studies combine artistic ideals with empiric measurements, resulting in an ambitious attempt to bring static proportions to life through systems of projection on motion. Writing in German rather than Latin, Dürer had to invent a new technical vocabulary for artistic measurement and proportion, thereby producing the first theoretical treatise on art north of the Alps.
