Andrea Del Sarto Rehabilitated: A Psychoanalytic Emendation

Abstract

Ernest Jones's “The Influence of Andrea del Sarto's Wife on His Art” (1913) is an early example of psychoanalysis applied to the study of a prominent painter. Greatly influenced by Freud's Leonardo da Vinci and a Memory of His Childhood, Jones gave excessive credence to Vasari's highly prejudicial account of the life of del Sarto, on which the study relied heavily. Jones attempted to account psychologically for the circumstance that del Sarto, though highly skilled and “faultless,” was not the equal of the three preeminent masters of the Italian High Renaissance: Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael. Jones's uncritical acceptance of the Vasari biography encouraged him to view del Sarto's assumed deficiency as the result of excessive attachment to his wife, a pathological uxoriousness. A contemporary psychoanalytic perspective, with its emphasis on the emotive response of the analyst, requires us to pay attention to the evocative nature of the work of the artist, an approach Jones neglected. In an examination of several paintings, the artist's sensitivity to the position of the spectator is explored, as is the interest in involving the viewer spatially and emotionally. An appreciation for the viewer's position is consistent with a capacity for using projected internal objects for creative purposes. The presence of this capacity suggests a revised view of del Sarto's contribution to art and of his relationship with his wife.