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This monograph on [[Leonardo ]] [[da Vinci ]] was the first of this kind written by [[Freud]], and he had great reservations [[about ]] it. There were precedents, however: Isidor Sadger had written several histories of artists with pathologies (Conrad-Ferdinand Meyer, Nikolas Lenau, Heinrich von Kleist). For years Freud had been interested in [[Leonardo da Vinci ]] (see his [[letter ]] to Wilhelm [[Fliess ]] of October 9, 1898) and [[identified ]] with Leonardo's [[passion ]] for investigation and the [[nature ]] of his research, which created a scandal at the [[time]]. Leonardo da Vinci and his ilk—Francis [[Bacon]], Nicolas [[Copernicus]], Bernard Palissy—are heroes of [[scientific ]] research, men who have "troubled the [[world]]'s [[sleep]]" (Friedrich Hebbel).

The first of the book's six chapters discusses the passion for investigation, its [[infantile ]] origins, and its drawbacks from the point of view of [[love]], [[social ]] relations, and [[other ]] activities. Leonardo is a [[good ]] example of such [[behavior ]] because he allows Freud to contrast the [[inhibition ]] (the slowness of execution) characteristic of his painting with his excessive investment in research. Freud defines the [[three ]] outcomes of infantile [[sexual ]] investigation: inhibition, [[obsession]], [[sublimation]]. "[L]ibido evades the fate of [[repression ]] by [[being ]] sublimated at the very beginning into curiosity" (p. 79).

The second chapter is devoted to Leonardo's [[memory ]] of his [[childhood]]. Freud interprets the memory as a [[fantasy ]] and compares it with mythological information. Unfortunately, Freud's [[discussion ]] is not pertinent, because a [[translation ]] error leads him to talk about a vulture instead of a kite.

The [[third ]] chapter provides a description, based on the fantasy of fellatio expressed in the memory, of a [[particular ]] type of [[homosexuality]]. In this type of homosexuality, the [[subject ]] [[identifies ]] with his [[mother ]] so he can [[experience ]] [[self]]-love through other young men, [[objects ]] of his [[homosexual ]] [[choice]]. This discussion considers [[narcissistic ]] choice long before Freud introduced the [[concept ]] of [[narcissism]].

In chapter 4 Freud continues his discussion of the memory of Leonardo's mother in his [[analysis ]] of Mona Lisa's smile. Chapter 5 describes Leonardo's [[antagonism ]] toward his [[father]]. Freud saw in this antagonism the origin of Leonardo's courage as an investigator, primarily in the face of [[religious ]] [[authority]]. Chapter 6, which contains an important discussion of the [[role ]] of [[chance]], presents Freud's methodological conclusion on [[creativity]].

Freud's essay on Leonardo is one of his best known works. Though Freud [[quotes ]] several biographies of artists, he transforms the art [[form ]] by investigating the obsessive investment associated with sublimated [[activity]].

See also: Applied [[psychoanalysis ]] and the interaction of psychoanalysis; Eissler, Kurt Robert; [[History ]] and psychoanalysis; Homosexuality; [[Identification]]; [[Intellectualization]]; [[Knowledge ]] or research, [[instinct ]] for; [[Literary ]] and artistic creation; Memory; "[[On Narcissism]]: An Introduction"; [[Phallic ]] mother; Phallic [[woman]]; [[Visual ]] [[arts ]] and psychoanalysis; Psychobiography; Psychohistory; [[Repetition]]; Sublimation; [[Thought]].