Various authors have claimed that early monuments have golden ratio proportions, often on conjectural interpretations, using approximate measurements, and only roughly corresponding to 1.618. For example, claims have been made about golden ratio proportions in Egyptian, Sumerian and Greek vases, Chinese pottery, Olmec sculptures, and Cretan and Mycenaean products from the late Bronze Age. These predate by some 1,000 years the Greek mathematicians first known to have studied the golden ratio. However, the historical sources are obscure, and the analyses are difficult to compare because they employ differing methods.
The Acropolis of Athens (468–430 BC), including the Parthenon, according to some studies, has many proportions that approximate the golden ratio. Other scholars question whether the golden ratio was known to or used by Greek artists and architects as a principle of aesthetic proportion. Building the Acropolis is calculated to have been started around 600 BC, but the works said to exhibit the golden ratio proportions were created from 468 BC to 430 BC. The Parthenon (447–432 BC), was a temple of the Greek goddess Athena. The Parthenon's facade as well as elements of its facade and elsewhere are claimed to be circumscribed by a progression of golden rectangles. Some more recent studies dispute the view that the golden ratio was employed in the design.
In his 1919 book Ad Quadratum, Frederik Macody Lund, a historian who studied the geometry of several Gothic structures, claims that the Cathedral of Chartres (begun in the 12th century), the Notre-Dame of Laon (1157–1205), and the Notre-Dame de Paris (1160) are designed according to the golden ratio. Other scholars argue that until Luca Pacioli's 1509 De Divina Proportione (see next section), the golden ratio was unknown to artists and architects, although this is not likely the case since the ratio was explicitly defined by Euclid.
The Australian architectural historian John James made a detailed study of the Cathedral of Chartres. In his work "The Master Masons of Chartres" he says that Bronze, one of the master masons, used the golden ratio. It was the same relation as between the arms of their metal square: Bronze by comparison was an innovator, in practical rather than in philosophic things. Amongst other things Bronze was one of the few masters to use the fascinating ratio of the golden mean.
The Romanesque style of architecture prevailed in Europe between 900–1200, a period which ends with the transition to Gothic architecture. The contrast between Romanesque and Gothic concepts in religious buildings can be understood in the epistolary between St. Bernard, Cistercian, and the Abbot Suger of the order of Cluny, the initiator of Gothic art in St. Denis.
One of the most beautiful works of Romanesque Cistercian is the Sénanque Abbey in Provence. The Sénanque abbatial was founded in 1148 and consecrated in 1178. It was initiated in life of St Bernard of Clairvaux. “La Lumière à Sénanque” (The Light in Sénanque), a chapter of Cîteaux : commentarii cistercienses, a publication of the Cistercian Order. Its author, Kim Lloveras i Montserrat, made in 1992 a complete study of the abbatial, and argues that the abbatial church was designed using a system of measures founded in the golden ratio, and that the instruments used for its construction were the “Vescica” and the medieval squares used by the constructors, both designed with the golden ratio. The "Vescica" of Sénanque is located in the cloister of the monastery, in front of the Chapter, the site of the workshop.
The Mona Lisa has many golden rectangles throughout the painting. By drawing a rectangle around her face, we can see that it is indeed golden. If we divide that rectangle with a line drawn across her eyes, we get another golden rectangle, meaning that the proportion of her head length to her eyes is golden. There are other golden rectangles that can be drawn on the rest of her body, like from her neck to the top of her hands.
Da Vinci created other pieces that were also drawn according to the golden ratio such as The Last Supper, Old Man, and The Vitruvian Man. The Vitruvian Man (or Man in Action) is the drawing of a man inscribed in a circle. The height of the man is in golden proportion from the top of his head to his navel and from his navel to the bottom of his feet. The Vitruvian Man illustrates all of the divine proportions within the human being
In “The Sacrament of the Last Supper,” Salvador Dali framed his painting in a golden rectangle. Following Da Vinci’s lead, Dali positioned the table exactly at the golden section of the height of this painting. He positioned the two disciples at Christ‘s side at the golden sections of the width of the composition. In addition, the windows in the background are formed by a large dodecahedron. Dodecahedrons consist of 12 pentagons, which exhibit phi relationships in their proportions.
Da Vinci's "The Annuciation" is a well-known art-work of Da Vinci's that depict the Golden Ratio, one of many. Note that in “The Annuciation,” that the brick wall of the courtyard is in golden ratio proportion to the top and bottom of the painting. Even the fine details of the emblems on the table appear to have been positioned based on golden proportions of the width of the table. Other golden proportions can be found in “The Annunciation” that illustrate the point and give evidence of Da Vinci’s intent. Michelangelo’s painting of “The Creation of Adam”, Raphael’s “The School of Athens”, and Bottocelli's “The Birth of Venus” are a few other major paintings that depict the Golden Proportion in them.