Andrzej Kozieł

Why Did Michael Willmann Study Proportions of Children's Bodies? A Few Remarks on the Artist's Notes from the Strahov Library, Prague

Among Michael Willmann's own notes, stored in the Strahov Library in Prague, one finds several tables documenting proportions of children's bodies between the ages of one month to 15 years. In carrying out these measurements, done in 1677, the painter was reacting to the treatise of Gualter Hermenius Rivius, based on the Renaissance theory of G.B. Alberti and Pomponius Gauricus. The author provides a detailed study of the results and motivation behind Willmann's observations, which lacked general, summarizing conclusions.

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