Freud, Leonardo da Vinci, and the vulture's tail

the long version

"Freud initiated psychobiography with his 1910 Leonardo da Vinci: A Memory of His Childhood, but was mislead by translators of Leonardo's recollection.". "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. He explodes one myth after another, taking issue with tenacious beliefs about Leonardo's sexuality, his vegetarianism, and tenderness toward animals. After laying Leonardo's recollection parallel to a dream by Freud's most famous patient, the Wolf Man, Andersen offers an entirely new interpretation of Leonardo's sexuality. In so doing, he exposes Freud's self-interest in how he constructed his analysis of both the Wolf Man and Leonardo da Vinci."--BOOK JACKET.