An artistic canon of body proportions, in the sphere of visual arts, is a formally codified set of criteria deemed mandatory for a particular artistic style of figurative art. The word canon was first
The traditional Egyptian depiction of the body in flat images. The figure represents the Roman Emperor Trajan (ruled 98–117 CE) making offerings to Egyptian Gods, Dendera Temple complex, Egypt.
Doryphoros (Roman copy)
Shiva as Nataraja (the Lord of Dance)
Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci
Polykleitos
Videos
Polykleitos was an ancient Greek sculptor, active in the 5th century BCE. Alongside the Athenian sculptors Pheidias, Myron and Praxiteles, he is considered as one of the most important sculptors of cl
Artistic canons of body proportions
…be again in profile, and that male figures should have one foot forward and female figures stand with feet together. In Classical Greece, the sculptor Polykleitos (fifth century BCE) established the Canon of Polykleitos. Though his theoretical treatise is lost to history, he is quoted as saying, "Perfection…
A Polykleitan Diadumenos, in a Roman marble copy, National Archaeological Museum of Athens
The Townley Marbles Discophoros, British Museum
Polykleitos's Doryphoros, an early example of classical contrapposto. Roman marble copy in the National Archaeological Museum, Naples
Apollo of the "Mantua type", marble Roman copy after a 5th-century-BC Greek original attributed to Polykleitos, Musée du Louvre