Freud as Leonardo: Why the First Psychobiography Went Wrong

Abstract Sigmund Freud ‘s book on Leonardo (1910/ 1957b) is widely regarded as the first genuine psychobiography. Other researchers, including Möbius and Sadger, had previously concerned themselves with the psychology of “great men, “ but their main goal was to arrive at a specific diagnosis of psychopathology. In Leonardo da Vinci and a Memory of His Childhood (originally published in 1910), Freud went much further: He applied a systematic theory of personality to the entire span of a creative individual ‘s life, and he provided psychological explanations for certain of Leonardo ‘s achievements as well as his failures. Almost a century later, Freud ‘s book remains in several regards a model psychobiography. He chose one of the most important and challenging biographical subjects in the history of the human race. He provided methodological guidelines for psychobiography, by prescriptive ex-ample and by proscriptive statement, that are valid today. Through a close reading of small as well as large clues about Leonardo ‘s life and work, and through the application of a coherent theoretical system, Freud was able to explain aspects of Leonardo ‘s character that had long puzzled art historians. Even Leonardo scholars who are not psychoanalytically inclined continue to acknowledge Freud ‘s insights.