Leonardo da Vinci: A Psychosexual Study of an Infantile Reminiscence

by Sigmund Freud

"Leonardo da Vinci: A Psychosexual Study of an Infantile Reminiscence" by Sigmund Freud is a psychoanalytic essay published in 1910. Freud examines Leonardo da Vinci's life and art through the lens of psychoanalysis, focusing on a childhood memory involving a bird attacking the infant Leonardo in his crib. The study explores how this early fantasy shaped Leonardo's psychology and artistic work, particularly his paintings of the Virgin Mary with Saint Anne, connecting them to Leonardo's upbringing by two mother figures after his illegitimate birth.