Springer: Springer Is Collaborating With JSTOR To Digitize, Preserve and Extend Access To Theory and Society
Springer: Springer Is Collaborating With JSTOR To Digitize, Preserve and Extend Access To Theory and Society
Springer: Springer Is Collaborating With JSTOR To Digitize, Preserve and Extend Access To Theory and Society
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Springer is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Theory and Society.
http://www.jstor.org
273
CLUES
CARLOGINZBURG
With this sentence Galileo gave a radically new direction to the science of
nature, in a tendentially anti-anthropocentricand anti-anthropomorphic
sense it never lost. This was the point where the gulf between the sciences of
natureand human sciencesbeganto open.13
Attempts to bridge this gulf are well known. One of them is Morelli's
seeminglynegligibleattempt. He declaredthat his aim was to give - at last -
a scientific basis to the studies of art history, polluted as they were by
amateurishnessand inaccuracy,througha systematicuse of the "experimental
method, which beginningfrom Leonardoand Galileoup to Volta and Darwin,
has made possible the most glorious discoveries."14Whatmeaning are we to
give this assertion?
"Morelli's books," writes Wind, "look different from those of any other
writer on art. They are sprinkledwith illustrationsof fingersand ears, careful
records of the characteristictrifles by which an artistgiveshimself away, as a
criminal might be spotted by a fingerprint. . . any art gallery studied by
Morelli begins to resemble a rogues' gallery . . ,,15 This comparison was
brilliantlydeveloped by Castelnuovo,who comparedMorelli'smethod, based
on the study of clues, to a method that, almost in those same years, was
attributedto Sherlock Holmesby his creator,ArthurConanDoyle.16 The art
connoisseur is comparable to a detective who establishes the author of a
"crime"of a painting) on the basis of clues that are not perceptibleto most
people. The instances of Holmes' shrewdnessin interpretingfootprints in
the mud, cigarette ashes, and so on, are countless and well known. But to
convince ourselves of the accuracy of the comparison proposed by Castel-
277
Morelli,it will be useful to state precisely the moment in which this reading
took place. The moment, or ratherthe moments, because Freudmentions two
distinct stages: "Long before I had any opportunity of hearingabout psycho-
analysis,I learnt that a Russian art-connoisseur,Ivan Lermolieff. .."; "I was
then greatly interested to learn that the Russianpseudonym concealed the
identity of an Italianphysiciancalled Morelli..."
About the date of the first statement we can only advance a conjecture.
As a terminusante quem we can propose the year 1895 (when Freud's and
Breuer'sStudies upon Hysteria were published)or 1896 (when Freudfor the
first time used the term "psychoanalysis".26As a terminuspost quem we can
propose 1883. That year, in December,Freudwrote his fiancee a long letter
about his "discoveryof painting"duringa visit to the DresdenGallery.Before
that he had had no interest in painting;now, he wrote, "I sloughed off my
barbarismand began to admire."27It seems unlikely that before this date
Freud could be attracted by the writing of an unknown art historian;it is
perfectly plausible, on the other hand, that he should start reading them
shortly after his letter to his fiancee about the DresdenGallery,since the first
of Morelli'sessays to be collected in a volume (Leipzig, 1880) were precisely
about the works of Italian masters in the galleriesin Munich,Dresden and
Berlin.28
But what significance did Morelli's essays have for Freud? Freud himself
indicates it: the proposal of an interpretativemethod based on debris, on
marginaldata, considered as detectors. This way, details usually considered
unimportantor even trivial, "low," could provide the key for understanding
the highest productof humanspirit:"my opponents," Morelliwrote ironically
- just the sort of irony Freud was bound to like - "are pleasedto define me
as one who is unable to see the spiritualmeaning of a work of art and there-
fore attaches particularimportance to outward signs such as the shape of
hands, ears, or even, horribile dictu, of such a disagreeableobject as the
fingernails."33Morellitoo could have appropriatedthe Virgilianmotto Freud
was fond of and had chosen as an epigraphto his Interpretationof Dreams:
"Flecteresi nequeo Superos,Acherontamovebo."("If HeavenI cannot bend,
then Hell I will arouse!")34Besides, these marginaldata were revealing,in
Morelli'sopinion, because they representeda moment in which the artist's
subordinationto cultural tradition was loosened and replaced by a purely
individual trait, which was repeated "as a consequence of habit and almost
unconsciously."35 Even more than the reference to the unconscious- not
exceptionalin that period36 - what is strikinghere is the identificationof the
intimatecore of artisticpersonalitywith elements that are beyond the control
of consciousness.
How can this triple analogy be explained? At first sight, the explanation
seemssimple. Freud was a doctor; Morellihad a degree in medicine; Conan
Doylehad been a doctor before he began to write. In all three cases we have a
glimpseof the model of medical semiotics that makesit possible to diagnose
diseasesnot recognizablethrough a direct observationand is based on super-
ficialsymptoms sometimes irrelevantto the layman- to Doctor Watson,for
instance.(Incidentally, it is worth pointing out that the Holmes-Watsonpair,
withthe shrewd detective and the slow-witted doctor, is a splitting of a real
figure,one of ConanDoyle's professorsin his student days, a man renowned
forhis extraordinarydiagnostic ability.39 But this is not a case of mere bio-
graphiccoincidences. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, more
281
Thesecharacteristicsexplain the
epistemologic ups and downs of medicine;
sinceHippocrates time, semiotics has been considered an
integral part of
medicine.Inthe seventeenth century, when an
extraordinarydevelopment
ofthe sciences of natureresultedin a rearrangementof the
map of knowledge,
medicine(includingsemiotics) was suddenlyplaced in an
ambiguousposition.
Itsreputation was torn to tatters in comparison with human sciences. Its
methodsseemed "uncertain,"its results, dubious.
Writings on the "un-
certainty"of medicine, fromLionardo di Capua (end of the seventeenth
century)to Cabanis(end of the eighteenth century), admitted this lack
of
strictness,
though afterwardsthe latter tried to recognizethat medicinehad a
scientificcharacter of its own.45
NOTES
19. It could however be more than a mere parallel. An uncle of Conan Doyle's, Henry
Doyle,painter and art critic, in 1869became director of the National Art Gallery
inDublin (see P. Nordon, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: L'hommeetl'oeuvre, Paris
1964,p. 9).In 1887 Morelli met Henry Doyle and wrote about him to his friend
SirHenry Layard: "What you tell me about the Dublin Gallery interests me very
much,especially since I hadthe opportunity in London to personally make the
on
acquaintanceof that wonderful Mr. Doyle, who made the best of impressions
me. . . alas, how different from Doyle are the individuals whom one ordinarily
meetsas directors of European galleries!" British Library (the original text is in
French),Add. Ms. 38965, Layard Papers vol. XXXV, c. 120 v). Henry Doyle's
knowledgeof the Morellian method (that we may take for granted in an art historian
inthose years) is proved by his Catalogue of the Works of Art in the National
Galleryof Ireland (Dublin, 1890) where Kugler's handbook, thoroughly revised
byLayard in 1887 under Morelli's supervision, is quoted. The first English transla-
tionof Morelli's writings appeared in 1883 (see the bibliography listed in Italienische
Malerei der Renaissance im Briefwechsel von Giovanni Morelli und Jean Paul
Richter: 1876-1891, herausgeg. von J.und G. Richter, Baden 1960). Holmes' first
adventure (A Study in Scarlet)in 1887. All this shows that Conan Doyle may
possiblyhave directly known Morelli's method. But this is, after all, an unnecessary
assumption: obviously, the intellectual trend that we are analyzing was diffused
evenoutside Morelli's writings.
20. See Wind,Art. . ., op. cit., p. 40.
21. See, besides a precise reference of Hauser (Le teorie dell'arte . . ., op. cit., p. 97;
theoriginal edition was printed in 1959): J. J.Spector, "Les methodes de la critique
d'art et la psychanalyse freudienne", Diogenes, n. 66 (1969), pp. 77-101;
H. Damisch, "La partie et let tout", Revue d'esthetique, 2 (1970), pp. 168-188;
Ibid., "Le gardien de l'interpretation," Tel Quel, n. 44 (Hiver 1971), pp. 70-96;
R.Wollheim, "Freud and the Understanding of the Art," OnArt and theMind . ...
opcit., pp. 209-120).
22. See S. Freud, "The Moses of Michelangelo", in trad. A. Strachey, in Freud on
I
Creativity and the Unconscious, B. Nelson, ed., New York 1958, pp. 24-25.
wasn'table to see K. Victorius, "Der 'Moses des Michelangelo' von Sigmund Freud,"
in Entfaltung der Psychoanalyse, herausgeg. von A. Mitscherlich, Stuttgart 1956,
pp. 1-10.
23. See S. Kofman, L'enfance de l'art. Une interpretation de l'esthetique freudienne,
Paris 1975, pp. 19, 27; see also Damisch, "Le gardien . . ." op. cit., pp. 70 sgg.;
Wollheim,On Art and the Mind .. ., op cit., p. 210.
24. We can except the perceptive essay by Spector, who, however, denies a real relation-
ship between Morelli's and Freud's methodsm ("Les methodes . . .", op. cit.,
pp. 82-83).
25. See S. Freud, L'interpretazione dei sogni, It. trans., Torino 1976, p. 289, footnote
(the footnote to p. 107 lists two essays by Freud on his relationship with "Lyn-
keus").
26. See M. Robert, La rivoluzione psicoanalitica. La vita e l'opera di Freud, It. trans.,
Torino 1967, p. 84.
27. See E. H. Gombrich, "Freud's Aesthetics", in Encounter, XXVI (1966), p. 30. It's
on
quite surprising that in this essay Gombrich doesn't mention Freud's passage
Morelli.
28. I. Lermolieff, Die Werkeitalienischer Meister in den Galerien von Munchen, Dresden
und Berlin, Ein kritischer Versuch . . . Aus dem Russischen ubersetzt von Dr.
Johannes Schwarze, Leipzig 1880.
on
29. G. Morelli (I. Lermolieff), Italian Masters in German Galleries: A Critical Essay
the Italian Pictures in the Galleries of Munich, Dresden and Berlin, . . . translated
from the German by L. M. Richter, London 1883.
287
30. See H. Trosman and R. D. Simmons, "The Freud Library", in Journal of the
American Psychoanalytic Association, 21 (1973), p. 672 (I am very grateful to Pier
Cesare Bori for calling my attention to this article).
31. See E. Jones, Vita e opere di Freud, It. trans., I, Milano 1964, p. 404.
32. See Robert, La rivoluzione . . ., op. cit., p. 144; G.. Morelli (I.
Lermolieff), Della
pittura italiana . . ., op. cit., pp. 88-89 (on Signorelli), p. 159 (on Boltraffio).
33. Ibid., p. 4.
34. The meaning of Freud's choice of this specific Vergilian verse
fromAeneis, 7, 312,
Loeb edition has been interpreted in various ways: see W. Schoenau,
Sigmund
Freuds Prosa. Literarische Elements seines Stil, Stuttgart 1968, pp. 61-73. The
most convincing interpretation appears to me that of E. Simon (p. 72), who believes
that the motto means that the hidden, invisible side of reality is no less
important
than the visible one. On the possible political implications of the motto
(which had
been already used by Lassalle) see the fine essay by C. E. Schorske,
"Politique et
parricide dans l"Interpretation des reves' de Freud", in Annales E.S.C., 28 (1973),
pp. 309-328 (particularly p. 325 sgg.).
35. See G. Morelli (I. Lermolieff), Della pittura italiana . . ., op.
cit., p. XVIII.
36. See H. F. Ellenberger, La scoperta dell'inconscio. Storia della
psichiatria dinamica,
It trans., Torino 1976, 2 vols.
37. See his introduction to A. Conan Doyle, The Adventures
of Sherlock Holmes: A
facsimile of the stories as they were first published in the Strand Magazine . . New
.,
York 1976, pp. X-XI. See also the bibliographical appendix to N.
Mayer, La
soluzione sette per cento, It. trans., Milano 1976, p. 214 (this is an undeservedly
successful novel, where Holmes and Freud appear together as characters).
38. For the distinction between symptoms and clues, see T. A.
Sebeok, Contributions
to the Doctrine of Signs, Bloomington, Indiana 1976.
39. See A. Conan Doyle, The Annotated Sherlock Holmes . .,
op. cit., I, Introduction
("Two doctors and a detetective: Sir Arthur Canon Doyle, John A.
Watson, M. D.,
and Mr. Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street"), p. 7 sgg., on John
Bell, the physician
who inspired the character of Holmes. See also A. Conan
Doyle, Memories and
Adventures, London 1924, pp. 25-26, 74-75.
40. I will quote here only AA. VV., Divination and
Rationalite, Paris 1974, and par-
ticularlythe excellent essay by J. Bottero "Symptomes, signes, ecritures" (pp. 70-
197). I will expand this passage in a forthcoming version of this essay.
41. See L. Romeo, "Heraclitus and the Foundations of
Semiotics", in Vs, 15/5 (1977),
pp. 73-90. The relevant fact for the right interpretation of Heraclitus'
fragment is,
inmy view,that it refers to the oracle of Delphi, that is to a
divinatory context.
42. See J. Goody and J. Watt,"The Consequences ..", . op. cit.
43. I mean to enlarge these statements, putting them in a broader
context. For the
moment I will say that by foremost interlocutor (both in agreement and
disagree-
ment)is S. Timpanaro, //lapsus freudiano, op. cit., pp. 197-98 and passim.
44. See, for instance, the philological Divinationes,
or works such as C. A. Brulley,
Del'art de conjecturer en medecine, Paris 1801 (which I wasn't able to
see). The
very etymology of conjectura (from cum-javio) has divinatory overtones, and
conjectormeans "divine".
45. On Lionardo di Capua see N. Badaloni,
Introduzione a G. B. Vico,Milano 1961,
passim. His Parere . . . divisato in otto ragionamenti, ne'
qualipartitamente
narrandosil'origine e 'I progresso della medicina, chiaramentel'incertezza della
medesimasi fa manifesta,was printed for the first time in Naples, in 1681.I have
used the Italian translation of Cabanis' tract (La certezza della
medicina, Bari
1974)with an introduction byS. Moravia.
46. See M. Foucault, Nascitadella clinica, It. trans., Torino
1969.
47. Readers will have recognized the allusions to A.
Warburg (La rinascita del paga-
nesimo antico, It. trans., Firenze 1966), L. Spitzer(Die
Wortbildungals stilistisches
288
Acknowledgment