Hermetic Meaning and Function of the Vitruvian Woman

There is magical intention overriding the recreation and metamorphosis of Leonardo's 'Vitruvian Man' into 'Vitruvian Woman'. The spell being cast is a retro-active one, it aims to transmute the past in order to influence the future. Powered by imagination, framed within a referential lattice made of symbol and archetype and sprinkled with subtly humorous overtones. Yes, the foolishness is liberating and it firmly grounds the character of the spell in the light camp. Besides, this ludic quality adds authenticity to the whole exercise, since Leonardo was well known for his practical jokes.

Unlike other attempts by modern artists to re-interpret this iconic image cloaking it in the garment of female biology, this incarnation of the Vitruvian Woman goes beyond the purely feminist (without denying this facet of significance) and plays with the idea that Leonardo Da Vinci actually conceived of a Vitruvian Woman - as well as a Vitruvian Man - back in his Rennaissance times. It entertains the very real possibility that he was aware of the distortion, imbalance and sickness that patriarchal, male priest dominated religious politics was responsible for, and of its antidote...

Leonardo was of 'heretic stock', descencing from a lineage of so-called Cathars. As such he was initiated into the truth of the usurping nature of the Roman Church.

The Vitruvian Man's Origins and Purpose: Leonardo solved the riddle set by Vitruvius a roman architect (insert pics of previous attempts), whether it was his deduction or he was privy to ancient knowledge otherwise suppressed he understood the relationship between geometry and biology, and the role of the Golden Number nowadays popularly known as Phi, or Golden Mean. He illustrated the first modern treatise by Fra Luca Pacioli in 1457 'The Divine Proportion'

Encyclopaedia Britannica online states, "Leonardo envisaged the great picture chart of the human body he had produced through his anatomical drawings and Vitruvian Man as a cosmografia del minor mondo (cosmography of the microcosm). He believed the workings of the human body to be an analogy for the workings of the universe."

The Golden Ratio

Monna Lisa. The face of Mystery

The Ellipse

The Pentalfa Star

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vitruvian Woman Genesis

Vitruvian Woman Detail Samples

Vitruvian Woman Prints