Leonardo da vinci, omo sanza lettere: A case of surface dysgraphia?

Abstract

This paper is intended to analyse Leonardo da Vinci's orthography from a neuropsychological perspective. In his writings many errors are found which are never made by normal subjects as slips of the pen and are specific to a neuropsychological disorder known as surface dysgraphia. Evidence is also given in support of the hypothesis that Leonardo suffered from an analogous disorder of reading; surface dyslexia. Alternative nonpathological explanations of Leonardo's bizarre spelling are considered and discarded.