§ 39 The Proportions of the Human Figure
It is the custom of many artists to make the figure nine heads high; dividing it in the following manner; the throat, the neck, and the height of the foot (from the instep to the sole) are equal to one head and the rest of the body to eight; of these, the shinbone measures two heads, from the knee to the organs of generation two more, while the body up to the pit of the throat is equal to three, with another from the chin to the top of the forehead, so that there are nine in all.155 As to the measurements across, from the pit of the throat to the shoulder on each side is the length of a head, and each arm to the wrist is three heads. Thus the man with his arms stretched out measures exactly as much as his height.