Leonardo da Vinci's Work in Relation to Women

Whether it is the theater, music or painting, an artist brings to his or her work the events that have effected their lives, including those that took place during their early childhood. Today, through the study of psychology, these influences can be analyzed in relation to the work created in a fairly thorough and accurate manner. But during the Italian Renaissance, Sigmund Freud and others who explored the psychology of man, were still centuries away so we can only theorize from the limited information available and the work created what drove an artist during that era to produce what he/she did and how.

Such is the case with the well-renowned artist, scientist and architect Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). Considered a genius not only during his life but up to the present day, da Vinci startled his contemporaries with his many and varied talents, including his translation of the human body to canvas and stone. And this interpretation has been the source of discussion and study by many twentieth century experts, including art historians and psychologists. In particular, da Vinci's representation of women is the source of much analysis. The purpose of this paper is to take an in-depth look at da Vinci's work in relation to women with special emphasis on the formative experiences in Leonardo's childhood that might have affected his work. As part of this review, several studies will be presented, including Freud's explanation for Leonardo's unique construction of gender

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ooking males. According to Freud, "... Leonardo represented the cool repudiation of sexuality-a thing that would scarcely be expected of an artist and a portrayer of feminine beauty" (Freud, 1989, p. 16). In fact, the lack of sexual imagery or language expressed in Leonardo's notes supports this. The only sketches were of the internal female genitals, the position of the embryo in the womb and so on (p. 17). Based on his research, Freud doubted that Leonardo had ever embraced a woman in passion nor even known any intimate mental relationship with a woman (Freud, 1989, p. 17). In his youth there was a charge of forbidden homosexual practices but it ended in acquittal when it was discovered the boy was a model that Leonardo had hired. But, though one could easily assume that Leonardo was homosexual, Freud discounts that idea. He argues that the artist was controlled by his thinking as well as the need to scrutinize all elements of human nature. "In reality, Leonardo was not devoid of passion . . . He had merely converted his passion into a thirst for knowledge; he then applied himself to investigation with the persistence, constancy and penetration which is derived from passion . . . " (Freud, 1989, p. 17). So if there were

Category: Arts - L