Leonardo had the memory of a kite (nibbio) flying down to his crib and striking the inside of his mouth/lips with its tail. It is interesting that Leonardo had connected this incident to his "destiny." ...but why? (By the way, Freud had mis-interpreted the word, "nibbio." He thought that it was a vulture, but in reality, it is a kite.)
A kite is a cautious bird. A kite is similar to a hawk, a bird of prey; therefore, for it to come close to Leonardo as an infant and not harming him is surprising.
An Egyptian goddess, Isis, sometimes transformed to a kite.
A kite, as well as a 'good' artist, has the wonderful eyesight.
Kites mate for life, and they help each other for brooding. The male brings the animal/food, and the female tears it apart and feed the chicks.
(This is the opposite of what Leonardo may have experienced in his early household.)
Mother kite uses the sound to warn the young ones when they are in danger (...to appear dead).
(Leonardo was a good singer - a sound maker.)
Most often they eat the already dead meat and remove the dead carcasses.
(Leonardo dissected the dead body.)
Red kite seems to have "the reputation to 'steal' the garments left out to dry." Shakespeare mentions it in his "Winter's Tale."
(Salai, whom Leonardo had adopted as his son, had the stealing habit!)
They glide in the air most of the time and not flapping their wings too often. Their legs are weak.
(The airplanes appear to glide when they are flying, and the man made kites are named after this bird. It is needless to mention about the "obsession" of Leonardo in regards to flying. )
(citation about the kite: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/トビ
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-bird-called-a-kite.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Kite
http://www.arkive.org/red-kite/milvus-milvus/biology.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Kite
http://hato.de-blog.jp/hatokaku/cat6658626/index.html
http://www.animalpicturesarchive.com/view.php?tid=3&did=23384 )
Was Leonardo also trying to relate this incident with the fact that he later had lived and worked in Milan?
The pun on the name of kite in French (Milan)and Spanish (Milano) with the name of the city state, where Leonardo lived and worked, Milan (Milano), although the etymology of the name of the city has almost nothing to do with a kite, may indicate such connection.
Obviously Leonardo did not come to the realization back then, when the incident had taken place originally. Leonardo is reflecting and interpreting the incident much later in his life after reflecting about his life. We don't exactly know when this realization had occurred although it was eventually written down.
One thing which stand out in this memory is that Leonardo remembered/recorded what he had observed and not what/how he had felt. In other words, the infant Leonardo seems to have rather objectively observed and remembered the external event as the scientist would while this kite flew down and hit the inside of Leonardo's mouth/lips with its tale. On the other hand, Leonardo seems not to have observed nor recorded the internal feeling and emotion of his as the psychologist. We do not know the true reason for this. (...whether the incident was not the fearful experience, or he was choosing not to disclose the feeling.)
It is also interesting to note that Leonardo decided to record and write about this incident, yet none about his early relation to his mother was written (...or being discovered by the historians).
This kite may symbolize the messenger or a being who anoints, for it did not harm/attack Leonardo but struck the inside of the mouth as if to pass on something and/or to appoint.
Mayer Schapiro in his essay, "Leonardo and Freud: An Art-Historical Study," (one of the essays compiled in the "Renaissance Essays," edited by Paul Oskar Kristeller and Philip P. Wiener / published in 1968 by University of Rochester Press) points to the significance of the legends of some of the great personalities in the human history having the common theme of some type of small creature(s), whether a bird or the ants, entering and/or touching the mouth/lips of such personalities (...often, when they were very young). "In all these classical legends, the omen is located in the mouth, the place of speech and more particularly of the breath or spirit." (p 311) It is interesting to note that one of the personalities he mentions is Saint Ambrose who is the patron saint of the city of Milan.
A kite is a cautious bird. A kite is similar to a hawk, a bird of prey; therefore, for it to come close to Leonardo as an infant and not harming him is surprising.
An Egyptian goddess, Isis, sometimes transformed to a kite.
A kite, as well as a 'good' artist, has the wonderful eyesight.
Kites mate for life, and they help each other for brooding. The male brings the animal/food, and the female tears it apart and feed the chicks.
(This is the opposite of what Leonardo may have experienced in his early household.)
Mother kite uses the sound to warn the young ones when they are in danger (...to appear dead).
(Leonardo was a good singer - a sound maker.)
Most often they eat the already dead meat and remove the dead carcasses.
(Leonardo dissected the dead body.)
Red kite seems to have "the reputation to 'steal' the garments left out to dry." Shakespeare mentions it in his "Winter's Tale."
(Salai, whom Leonardo had adopted as his son, had the stealing habit!)
They glide in the air most of the time and not flapping their wings too often. Their legs are weak.
(The airplanes appear to glide when they are flying, and the man made kites are named after this bird. It is needless to mention about the "obsession" of Leonardo in regards to flying. )
(citation about the kite: http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/トビ
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-bird-called-a-kite.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Kite
http://www.arkive.org/red-kite/milvus-milvus/biology.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Kite
http://hato.de-blog.jp/hatokaku/cat6658626/index.html
http://www.animalpicturesarchive.com/view.php?tid=3&did=23384 )
Was Leonardo also trying to relate this incident with the fact that he later had lived and worked in Milan?
The pun on the name of kite in French (Milan)and Spanish (Milano) with the name of the city state, where Leonardo lived and worked, Milan (Milano), although the etymology of the name of the city has almost nothing to do with a kite, may indicate such connection.
Obviously Leonardo did not come to the realization back then, when the incident had taken place originally. Leonardo is reflecting and interpreting the incident much later in his life after reflecting about his life. We don't exactly know when this realization had occurred although it was eventually written down.
One thing which stand out in this memory is that Leonardo remembered/recorded what he had observed and not what/how he had felt. In other words, the infant Leonardo seems to have rather objectively observed and remembered the external event as the scientist would while this kite flew down and hit the inside of Leonardo's mouth/lips with its tale. On the other hand, Leonardo seems not to have observed nor recorded the internal feeling and emotion of his as the psychologist. We do not know the true reason for this. (...whether the incident was not the fearful experience, or he was choosing not to disclose the feeling.)
It is also interesting to note that Leonardo decided to record and write about this incident, yet none about his early relation to his mother was written (...or being discovered by the historians).
This kite may symbolize the messenger or a being who anoints, for it did not harm/attack Leonardo but struck the inside of the mouth as if to pass on something and/or to appoint.
Mayer Schapiro in his essay, "Leonardo and Freud: An Art-Historical Study," (one of the essays compiled in the "Renaissance Essays," edited by Paul Oskar Kristeller and Philip P. Wiener / published in 1968 by University of Rochester Press) points to the significance of the legends of some of the great personalities in the human history having the common theme of some type of small creature(s), whether a bird or the ants, entering and/or touching the mouth/lips of such personalities (...often, when they were very young). "In all these classical legends, the omen is located in the mouth, the place of speech and more particularly of the breath or spirit." (p 311) It is interesting to note that one of the personalities he mentions is Saint Ambrose who is the patron saint of the city of Milan.
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