Activity 2

SPIRALS AND THE GOLDEN RATIO

By Gary Meisner

Name: INTALAN, Fritzgerald L. Section and Course: 1 AB- BS Biology

Leonardo da Vinci’s erudition or great intellect influences the Contemporary art

and the application of Mathematics in paintings. The video called “Leonardo da Vinci,
Salvator Mundi and the Divine Proportion” carries the concept and analyzation of
Gary Meisner in explaining spirals and Golden Ratio. Gary, as an author and math
lover concluded that Leonardo applied dozens of golden ratios in his greatest works of
art, including The Annunciation, The Last Supper and Salvator Mundi. I learned that
there are two important concepts in the video and these are basically the Golden Ratio
and the Golden Spirals. The video is inarguably necessary in showing the
characteristics of the two concepts and I will explain what I learned as we go on with
my essay.
The video mentioned and emphasizes the painting called “Salvator Mundi” or
Christ as Savior of the World. This painting that was officially discovered in 2011 was
observed to have applied the Golden Ratio in its proportion. Speaking of which,
Golden Ratio in the video was indicated using a line. I have learned that the ratio of
the sum of the two value (larger and smaller) to the larger value is equal to the ratio of
smaller value to larger value and these ratios must also be equal to “phi” (see the
formula below). In creating Golden Spiral, there will always be Golden Rectangles
which we can see on how the painting was illustrated in the video. From hands, to the
face, to the chest and many more, we can see that there were golden rectangles
unveiled. If we draw the squares with the dimension of numbers in Fibonacci
sequence, Golden Rectangle can be form thus lead to the creation of Golden Spirals
which are spirals that follows “phi” or Golden Ratio as its growth factor. Moreover, the
video also gave me information about the book called “Divine Proportion” written by
Luca Pacioli and illustrated by Leonardo da Vinci. With that being said from the video,
no one knows If Leonardo intentionally applies the Golden Ratio to the painting but

-------------|-------- Formula: a+b = a = Φ

a b a b Video Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXDmAtTJ6JY