Leonardo Da Vinci

Sigmund Freud's study of Leonardo da Vinci treats the Renaissance master not only as an unrivaled artist, but as a scientist, thinker, and psychological enigma whose genius resists simple explanation. Leonardo emerges as physically beautiful, charming, and brilliantly gifted across many fields, yet increasingly isolated by his relentless curiosity and his refusal to work in conventional ways. Freud argues that psychoanalysis can illuminate even such towering figures, and he uses Leonardo's life and works to explore the tension between artistic creation and scientific inquiry. At the center of the portrait is Leonardo's habit of leaving paintings unfinished, a trait his contemporaries noticed and later admirers tried to excuse. Masterpieces such as The Holy Supper, the Mona Lisa, and the unfinished Battle of Anghiari reveal both his perfectionism and his technical experimentation, while his gentle, peace-loving temperament stands in striking contrast to his fascination with anatomy, violence, and military engineering. His guiding principle seems to be that nothing can be loved or hated until it is first understood. Freud also reads Leonardo's expense notes and burial records as windows into repressed feeling, especially unresolved attachment to his mother, Caterina, and hidden libidinal conflict that helps explain the erotic imagery of the vulture fantasy. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.