Venus de Milo has it. Leonardo de Vinci’s Vitruvian man has it, even the Statue of Liberty has it. If you’re one of about 15–20 percent of the population, you have it too. Congratulations, that means you are worthy of modeling for an ancient Greek statue.
What is it that gives you this honor? Why your toes of course. Well, actually it’s one toe in particular. The second one and it sticks out farther than your big toe. Sculptors and painters in the classical, Hellenistic, Neoclassical and Renaissance periods all went to sleep at night dreaming of the perfect model and her beautiful long second toe.
Now, not every culture shared the same feelings as the Greek and Renaissance artists. Egyptians loved everything properly measured, and they used what’s known as the canon of proportion. What that means, in a nutshell, is although measurements vary from one person to another, the relationship of one body part to another stays the same. Toes, therefore, should be nice and tidy. Flamboyant and unruly second toes would not be tolerated.
