Freud, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Vulture's Tail: A Refreshing Look at Leonardo's Sexuality

Freud initiated psychobiography with his 1910 Leonardo da Vinci, A Memory of His Childhood, but was mislead by translators of Leonardo's recollection. Leonardo recalled having been visited by a hawk while still in his cradle. Freud was led to identify it as a vulture. Because the vulture was believed to be always female and self-impregnating, the vulture was the perfect mother symbol. The fact that in Leonardo's dream the bird had inserted its tail into the infant's mouth, Freud interpreted as an insertion of the mother's nipple that would fuse later in Leonardo's mind with the insertion of a male member, thus forming the basis of Leonardo's homosexuality. The mistaken identity of the bird aroused severe criticism that effectively damned Freud's book. Andersen proves that the mistake was not Freud's. After bringing to light information that Freud could not have known about Leonardo's illegitimate birth and the circumstances of his infancy and youth in Florence, Andersen provides a new reading, seamlessly fusing psychoanalysis with fifteenth-century Florentine art history.