Leonardo Da Vinci: Psychoanalytic Notes on the Enigma, K.R. Eissler

Leonardo Da Vinci: Psychoanalytic Notes on the Enigma, K.R. Eissler

This is a detailed and penetrating study of the development of Leonardo da Vinci's genius and the full measure of his achievement in overcoming the difficulties inherent in his circumstances and personality. The author begins by discussing Freud's study Leonardo da Vinci and A Memory of His Childhood, and comments on the various studies of this work by other psychologists. He then goes on to analyse in detail, from historical evidence and from the evidence of Leonardo's paintings, drawings and notes, the sources and the nature of Leonardo's prevailing preoccupations, obsessions, and notable lacks, and how we may trace the way in which he manages to transmute the raw material of his personal life into the artistic and scientific achievements by which we recognize him today. Mr Eissler's analysis is amply and beautifully illustrated with 64 plates - including reproductions of the Mona Lisa, the Anna Metterza, The Virgin of the Rocks, and many pages from the notebooks - exemplifying every aspect of the artist's work, and also all the main points discussed in this authoritative and sympathetic study of the multiplicity and variety of the factors contributing to Leonardo's highly individual art.

Details

• Hardcover with dust jacket (with plastic protection) 
• Condition: Good, has a small bookshop sticker on the inside of the front cover (see photo's), no notes/stamps
  
• Publisher: The Hogarth Press and the Institute of psycho-analysis