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"proportion"

By Shelley Esaak, About.com

Vitruvian Man by Leonardo

Vitruvian Man by Leonardo

Scan © Mark Harden, used by permission

Definition:

(noun) - Proportion is a principle of art that describes the size, location or amount of one element to another (or to the whole) in a work. It has a great deal to do with the overall hamrony of an individual piece.

Think of Leonardo's Vitruvian Man (you know the guy: naked, inserted within a rectangle within a circle, arms outstretched, legs shown both together and spread, etc.) for a clear idea of just how much thought has gone into proper proportioning over the ages.

Pronunciation: pruh·por·shun

Examples: "There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion." - Francis Bacon

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