Historical Figures: Leonardo da Vinci and a Tribute to Claudio Naranjo

Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci was a unique individual, active in many fields of knowledge and widely regarded as “the greatest genius the world has ever seen.” His genius lay not only in the magnitude of his ideas and talents but also in the breadth of interests to which he dedicated countless hours of meticulous study.

Throughout his career, Leonardo filled hundreds of volumes with notes, studies, and research on a variety of subjects, including mathematics, engineering, astronomy, geometry, botany, geology, music, sculpture, drawing, and architecture. He developed extensive, though incomplete, treatises on painting, anatomy, optics and light, flight, water, and mechanics. However, it was in the arts—particularly in drawing and painting—that Leonardo demonstrated unparalleled technical mastery and expressiveness.

Despite his immense intellectual and artistic contributions, Leonardo left very few personal notes, and much of his private life remains shrouded in mystery.

Remarkably, as he approached death, Leonardo felt overwhelmed with guilt for having "offended God" by not dedicating more time to Him. He expressed regret for having allowed his wide-ranging interests to detract from the depth of his work: “I have offended God when my work did not reach the quality it should have.” This sentiment reflects the perfectionism and self-critical nature often associated with the Social 5.

Leonardo was known for his great magnetism. According to Giorgio Vasari, a contemporary biographer, Leonardo’s temperament was so charming that it captivated everyone he encountered. Pleasant in conversation, he was typically kind and friendly. When he spoke, his deep understanding of his subjects and his intelligence mesmerized listeners.

Additional Observations

Some of Leonardo’s wisdom is preserved in a collection of fables he wrote, which often explore the misconceptions surrounding exaggerated self-esteem and false humility. As a socially conscious individual, Leonardo exhibited a strong tendency toward self-reflection and constant self-demand, always striving to align his work with a high ideal. However, while he was highly critical of himself, he sometimes expressed a sense of superiority when comparing himself to others. For instance, he once remarked: “Many times, when I see some men pick up a book, I fear that, like a monkey, they will stick their finger up their nose or wonder if it’s something to eat.”

Leonardo was born in 1452 in the town of Anchiano, near Vinci, as the illegitimate son of a Florentine merchant, Piero da Vinci, and a peasant woman, Caterina. Due to her lower social status, Caterina was excluded from Leonardo’s family and was not welcomed into Piero’s household. Little is known about Caterina’s relationship with Leonardo. Some scholars suggest that she nursed him during the first year of his life, as was customary at the time, and may have been present during part of his early childhood. Others argue that Leonardo was separated from Caterina shortly after his birth, unable to develop a significant bond with her.

A childhood memory of Leonardo da Vinci, analyzed by Sigmund Freud, highlights how his mother’s absence may have shaped the artist’s life. Freud portrays Leonardo as a sad child who carried feelings of emotional deprivation throughout his life. Leonardo’s references to his mother suggest a fragile and distant bond, and there are similarly sparse references to his father, giving the impression that the paternal relationship was also of limited importance.

On Leonardo’s Sexual Orientation

There is no consensus among scholars on Leonardo’s sexual orientation. Analyzing Freud’s studies on the roots of Leonardo’s possible homosexuality, we might consider that the artist may have spent his early years living alone with his single mother. Freud explained his theory as follows:

“In all our male homosexuals, there was a very intense erotic attachment to a female person, usually the mother, a prominent figure. This attachment was fostered by excessive love from the mother during early childhood, followed by its complete withdrawal or absence, as well as by the absence of the father during that formative period.

Love for the mother cannot consciously develop further [because it becomes too threatening for the child], and thus it merges with repression. The child represses his love for his mother by identifying with her, taking her place, and modeling himself after her. This

identification leads him to choose an object of love that reflects his own person. Thus, he becomes homosexual; in fact, he reverts to a stage of autoerotism, as the boys he grows to love as an adult are merely surrogates for his own childhood self, whom he loves in the same way his mother loved him. We call this a narcissistic path to love, referring to the Greek legend of Narcissus, the child who found nothing more delightful than his reflection in a mirror and who was transformed into the beautiful flower that bears his name.”

Freud’s thesis posits that Leonardo’s homosexuality stemmed from an intense attachment to his mother and a significant emotional distance from his father. However, Freud also suggested that this bond with his mother was “entirely forgotten,” as evidenced by the lack of references to her in Leonardo’s personal notes.

Interestingly, Freud’s analysis aligns with life histories of various Social 5 types, who often report closer but fragile bonds with their mother figures. Their relationships with their fathers tend to be cold and distant, sometimes idealized, and they try to fill this void by idealizing an unattainable “Totem.”

Leonardo kept his personal life deeply private. Freud remarked, “Leonardo represented a cold rejection of sexuality, something one would not expect from an artist and painter of feminine beauty.” Among women, there was only one, Cecilia, who seemed to stir his emotions, though their connection never materialized into anything concrete. It can be imagined that, as a Social 5, Leonardo did not prioritize affective relationships. His “Totem” and interests were not rooted in human figures but projected into the ideal world of ideas and theories, to which he devoted himself entirely.

There is no evidence in Leonardo’s manuscripts or in the testimony of those close to him that he engaged in overt sexual activity. Regarding sexuality, Leonardo writes with cold detachment:

"The act of procreation and everything related to it is so abject that humanity would undoubtedly become extinct, were it not for the fact that it is an established custom and that there are beautiful faces and sensual natures."

Freud attributed the origin of Leonardo’s genius and vast scientific output to the sublimation of his libido. According to Freud, Leonardo was a case in which “the libido escapes the fate of repression, sublimating itself from the start into curiosity.” Thus, all the energy that might have been directed toward sexual curiosity was instead channeled into research and intellectual pursuits. For Leonardo, there was no other object of love than his work and scientific interests.

Freud adds:

"The only passion he had he turned into a search for knowledge, and upon reaching the culmination of his work, which is the acquisition of knowledge, he allowed the long-repressed affect to come freely to the surface, as the dammed water of a river is allowed to flow." The artist himself wrote in his Codex Atlanticus the following entry on sexuality: "Intellectual passion expels sensuality."

Leonardo preached against lust. Social 5s tend to conserve energy, experiencing pleasure with restraint. Intensity frightens them, so they protect themselves by suppressing impulses and desires, thereby repressing their own gluttony. They exercise strong dominance over their desires, as revealing them to others carries the risk of not finding resonance. They often mistrust that others can fulfill their needs and, gripped by fear and doubt, withdraw from contact, renouncing affection and love.

In favor of self-restraint, Leonardo writes: "He who does not contain the desires of lust puts himself on the same level as animals. You cannot have more or less control than the one we have over ourselves. It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end."

Regarding other traits of the artist, some scholars assert that he was impassive and outwardly serene, qualities that certainly masked the complexity and conflicts of his inner life. Vasari described him as having a beautiful appearance and a graceful physique.

Another biographer, S.B. Nuland, notes the remarkable serenity that Leonardo maintained throughout his life, paired with a likable and pleasant character. This apparent serenity is a common trait among Fives, especially those of the social subtype, who often hide behind a "veneer" of spirituality.

Among scholars, there is consensus about his detachment, his enigmatic character, and his obsession with secrecy—traits often found in the Social 5. This type tends to cultivate isolation, secrecy, and avoidance of intimacy.

On Leonardo's detachment, Nuland writes: "Among these preconceptions is that of a certain detachment from the world. It seemed to some that the only issues of real importance to Leonardo were those that helped his art and the study of science." In his writings and notes, there are few personal thoughts or feelings that reveal his inner life. He often wrote in a "backward, indecipherable" script that only a few could read.

Some of his writings include complaints about people who borrowed money or intruded on his privacy, as well as obligations he reluctantly fulfilled. Freud comments on these records, illustrating the retention tendency typical of the Social 5:

"They are notations of small amounts of money spent by the artist, written with minute precision as if by an austere or thrifty father of a family. Yet there is nothing more extravagant..."

Privacy-related complaints reflect the elusive personality of the miser, whose need to protect personal space is acute, and who feels invaded more easily than others. Leonardo wrote: "If you are alone, you are all yours. If you are accompanied, you are half yours."

As an adult, Leonardo wrote about visits from a woman who was apparently his mother, Caterina. However, he did not refer to her as his mother, nor did he show his emotions. His life was poor in affection. When his mother died, he recorded only burial expenses and the number of priests who carried her coffin. After this, Caterina is not mentioned again.

In one of his notebooks, he refers with equal detachment to the death of his father: "On Wednesday, July 9, 1504, my father died. He was eighty years old. He left ten sons and two daughters. At seven in the evening, my father died."

Freud comments on this passage to illustrate Leonardo's emotional inhibition: "If there had not been an affective inhibition, the note in his diary would have been written more or less like this: 'Today at seven o'clock, my father died. Ser Piero da Vinci, my poor father!' But the inclusion of such indifferent details, like the exact time of his death, empties the note of emotion and suggests a hidden or suppressed existence of deeper feelings."

Leonardo's father, preoccupied with business, was unable to devote himself to his son, who was instead cared for by an uncle. Left alone, Leonardo found refuge in nature, which he was truly passionate about. He isolated himself and, early on, learned to observe the world around him. This lack of connection is reflected in his solitary, strong-willed character, not only distant from others but also focused on seeking fulfillment through isolation.

From a young age, Leonardo showed great talent but was shy and sensitive, very different from his extroverted father, who saw himself as a seducer. Around 1469, his father moved the family to Florence, a city that valued art. At the age of seventeen, Leonardo was sent by his father to study letters and music under the care of the talented Andrea del Verrocchio.

For Leonardo, observation was the foundation of all art. In conducting his studies, he not only relied on an extensive knowledge of subjects such as physics and mathematics, which he gradually acquired, but also applied an exceptionally sharp sense of observation. Combined with this was his extraordinary ability to instantly capture, through drawings, everything he observed, as seen in many of his studies of animals in motion, such as horses and birds. Leonardo believed that, in both art and science, one must capture the moment

and examine it, as it contains the past and the future while being inherently tied to the present.

In this context, the researcher Kenneth Clark refers to the "superhuman speed" of Leonardo's eye, which enabled the impeccable registration of instantaneous impressions in his mind. This reveals a key trait of Leonardo’s personality: a remarkable capacity for observation, born from a detached attitude, characteristic of someone who lives on the periphery of events and avoids taking center stage in life’s scenes.

In Florence, he began studying geometry, mathematics, anatomy, botany, and other sciences as a foundation for his paintings. However, in Milan, after 1482, his study of nature and scientific investigations became more formal and theoretical, evolving into disciplines he pursued for their own sake. From this point, Leonardo’s career diverged somewhat from the arts. His notebooks became records of an odyssey-like search for knowledge that persisted throughout his life. These notebooks contain extensive notes on a wide variety of topics related to science and engineering, to which Leonardo devoted significant energy, often at the expense of his artistic endeavors. His writings reveal a mind dominated by naturalism and reason. Regarding Leonardo’s relationship with knowledge, Nuland states:

"Studies of mechanics and nature were conducted with an understanding that, as far as possible, excluded errors born of ignorance. But for him, the greatest mistakes were those that nullified independent thought. While he read and learned to expand his knowledge, he knew that the most direct path to truth was through repeated personal experience with the phenomena and laws of nature."

Leonardo’s paintings were summaries of knowledge, giving them the character of scientific demonstrations. The Last Supper is a striking example of this approach: an extraordinarily ordered and logical composition in which the principles of geometry are applied throughout the painting, reflecting a rigorously rational artistic process.

However, this rationality expressed his ideals. Implicit in this idealized form—whether in geometry or mathematics—was the Renaissance concept of perfection and its connection to the spiritual world.

Leonardo’s scientific rigor in preparing his paintings led him to study human anatomy. He frequented the hospital of Santa Maria Nuova in Florence and soon devoted himself to describing the mysteries of the human body. He recounts an episode involving the death of a centenarian: "This old man, a few hours before his death, told me he was over a hundred years old and that he felt no ailments in his body, only weakness. Thus, sitting on the bed without any movement or incident, he peacefully left this life."

Without pause, Leonardo continues in the same tone: "And soon I performed an anatomy, cutting up the corpse that had passed away so gently."

These studies were interrupted and resumed throughout Leonardo's life, and he never completed his Treatise on Anatomy. Starting with a pictorial problem, other interconnected questions emerged in his mind. Leonardo meticulously researched all of them, remarking, "But problems are like the links of a chain that has no end."

Thus, beginning with the anatomy of the human body, he moved on to study the eyes: "I say that vision is produced in all animals by light." He discovered the retina and the optic nerve, which transmits light to the brain. From there, he explored light itself, laying the foundations of photometry. He also compared the earth to a living organism, describing it poetically: "The earth has a vegetative spirit because its flesh is the soil, its bones are the rocks that form the mountains, its sinews are the calcareous tuff, its blood is the water in its veins, and the ocean is the heart's lake of blood. Its breath is the rise and fall of water in the sea, just as blood pulses in the body. The spirit of the world is fire, exhaled by the earth, while volcanic eruptions are its fiery veins."

In a Social 5, the pursuit of knowledge stems from a feeling of unpreparedness and a belief that the time to display one’s expertise has not yet arrived. This over-idealization increases the distance between one’s ideal self and the tangible world. An example is the multitude of criteria Leonardo established for what defines a good painter, often involving many simultaneous and sometimes conflicting variables. The result was a form of "hyper-naturalism" that impressed not only with its technical mastery but also with its ability to evoke deep emotional reactions from observers.

In his narrative paintings, Leonardo believed that the emotions depicted in the story must move the audience in the same way they move the characters. For example, if the story conveys terror, fear, struggle, or pain—or joy, laughter, and delight—the audience’s bodies and minds should feel as though united with the characters in the painting. If this was not achieved, Leonardo considered the painter’s skill worthless.

Freud comments on Leonardo’s idealism: "There is extraordinary depth and a wealth of possibilities that hinder any final resolution—enormous ambitions, difficult to satisfy, and an inhibition in execution for which there seems no justification, even if the artist never reaches his ideal."

This meticulousness in his studies ultimately affected Leonardo’s creative force and productivity. He often struggled to finish his works, with his notebooks growing in size while many projects remained incomplete. Vasari famously noted that Leonardo was "a man who started many things but never finished them." As S.B. Nuland remarks:

"Leonardo was rarely convinced that his paintings were perfect. Works others considered complete were often judged as imperfect by him, as his ideals of perfection were based on criteria too grandiose for most to comprehend."

A brief account by the 15th-century writer Matteo Bandello allows us to understand Leonardo's pictorial process:

Many times, I saw Leonardo leave early in the morning to work on the scaffolding in front of The Last Supper, and he would stay there from sunrise to sunset, never putting down his brush, continuing to paint without eating or drinking. Then, three or four days would pass without him touching the work, but each day he would spend several hours examining it, criticizing the figures to himself. I also saw him, when it suited him, leave La Corte Vecchia during work on the stupendous clay horse and go directly to the Grazies. There, up on the scaffolding, he would take up the brush, give a few strokes to one of the figures, and then suddenly move to another place.

In his Hymn of Praise, the art critic Walter Pater reveals another side of Leonardo: his atmosphere of sensitivity and great openness to mystery, born of his profound capacity for presence and interior silence. According to Pater, Leonardo’s constant state of inner attention, far removed from the daily concerns of living and doing, made him seem like a solitary voice. Silent people would surround him so that Leonardo could listen to others. He appeared to possess secret knowledge inaccessible to ordinary people.

Vasari adds that, despite Leonardo's deep knowledge of art, he left several works unfinished because his hand could never seem to perfectly realize the ideal projected in his mind. Even the Treatise on Painting, a project he had long dreamed of, was never completed. In his tireless pursuit of the extraordinary, there appears to have been an unconscious will to delay the moment when his works could be presented. Leonardo dealt with the dynamics of his mind by revealing very little about himself personally and instead showing what he produced. This, too, contributed to the hyper-idealization surrounding the Social 5 personality.

There is something in Leonardo and in his works that prevents us from fully understanding him. His was an elusive, cunning, and difficult character to capture. Much like his paintings, marked by a strong use of shadows and vague landscapes, his personality was shrouded in a hidden and mysterious atmosphere.

According to Baudelaire, Leonardo was like a "deep and dark mirror, difficult to see the bottom of."

Scholars have never fully unraveled Leonardo. Although aristocratic and sociable, in private he was cold, distant, and lonely. Rarely showing emotion or affection, he nonetheless

seemed elevated in his meditations, giving the impression of an ice mountain with its peak always covered in snow. One of the leading specialists on Leonardo's life and work, Martin Kemp, described him as follows:

The impression that emerges from the earliest records is of an affable and attractive person who, to everyone except his close friends, exhibited an air of detachment that accompanies a closed personality.

When describing Leonardo’s character, Freud highlights idleness and indifference, traits that align with the Social 5 personality:

At a time when everyone sought to achieve prominence by energetically asserting themselves, Leonardo stood out for his calmness and aversion to any form of antagonism or controversy.

Leonardo is described as a calm, brooding, and shy man. He carried a heretical attitude in his soul, showing more appreciation for philosophy than Christianity. About the “philosopher Leonardo,” the King of France remarked: “I do not believe that any other man born into this world knew as much as Leonardo—not only about sculpture, painting, and architecture but also as a great philosopher.”

Yet, despite his reserved nature, Leonardo’s life was also partially oriented toward society. He participated in social gatherings with artists, philosophers, and scholars, spending years among the powerful in an effort to win their favor. To entertain the court of Milan, he devised riddles and puzzles, which can still be found today in the Codex Atlanticus, a collection of documents on his life consisting of twelve volumes.

While Leonardo devoted some of his genius to entertaining nobles with tasks he deemed unimportant, he also dedicated his time and talent to studying military weapons and designing complex defense systems. His notes reveal his discontent with the demands of his patrons and his difficulty in expressing his own desires, often accepting tasks that did not interest him.

After twenty years in Milan, Leonardo coldly noted the downfall of his patron, Duke Ludovico: “The Duke lost his state, possessions, and freedom. And no work has been finished for him.” Once again, Leonardo’s typical detachment and indifference are evident, showing no emotion or great concern for the suffering of others.

However, Leonardo could also be generous, revealing the development of the virtue of detachment: “I never tire of serving; I never tire of being useful.” A contradictory phrase reflects the inner tension of a personality driven by a passion for withholding or keeping to oneself: “Do not teach, and you will be excellent.”

Though we lack extensive information about this genius of art and science, we can piece together a picture of the mysterious character Leonardo was.

The Social 5 personality described by Claudio Naranjo helps us better understand many aspects of Leonardo’s inner life. His thirst and passion for knowledge, his pursuit of the extraordinary, the idealization inherent in his work and perfectionist attitude, his renunciation of affections and relationships, his detachment and emotional coldness, and the aura of mystery surrounding his personality are traits that clearly align with the miserly and reserved character of the Social 5.

A fascinating archetype of the Renaissance man, he possessed an extremely creative and productive mental world, to the point of producing models and drawings daily, yet lived a life of few notable events. Though remarkable in both art and science, his enormous potential was bound by the characteristics of his personality.

Immersed in a mental world of diverse interests and driven by an immense effort to grasp everything through reason, he had an inner life that was lacking in emotional pleasures, with his emotional and instinctive nature remaining underdeveloped.

Undoubtedly, Leonardo's art led him toward greater awareness, and his thirst for knowledge drove him to uncover the intricate relationships between human existence, science, art, and nature. On his Apollonian path to perfection, he demonstrated vision and an admirable capacity for wonder. He loved nature and knowledge, as well as the mystery and perfection that imbue all things.

And yet, he confessed to having offended both God and men by failing to achieve the quality his work deserved. Leonardo died in 1519, dissatisfied and frustrated by his inability to accept his imperfections. For him, the possibility of self-love seemed blocked by the immense ideal of his Totem, which was so vast it overshadowed him.