Why Fig Leaves Often Cover the Most Private Parts of Classical Sculptures

 

As an equal opportunity blog, we are pleased to present a female version of the David controversy.  For a graphic look at David sans fig leaf or other protective covering, proceed cautiously to the end of this article.

By Alexxa Gotthardt, Artsy

Daily Kos Morning

Consider the fig leaf: a little piece of foliage that’s shielded the genitals of famous biblical figures and nude sculptures for centuries.

It’s a plant that’s become synonymous with sin, sex, and censorship. And in large part, we have art history—and the artists determined to portray nudity even when it was considered taboo—to thank for that.

Take Michelangelo’s famous sculpture David (1501–04), a muscular, starkly naked depiction of its namesake biblical hero.

The work scandalized the artist’s fellow Florentines and the Catholic clergy when unveiled in Florence’s Piazza della Signoria in 1504. Soon after, the figure’s sculpted phallus was girdled with a garland of bronze fig leaves by authorities.

60 years later, just months before Michelangelo’s death, the Catholic Church issued an edict demanding that “figures shall not be painted or adorned with a beauty exciting…lust.” The clergy began a crusade to camouflage the penises and pubic hair visible in artworks across Italy.

Their coverups of choice? Loincloths, foliage, and—most often—fig leaves. It has became known as the “Fig Leaf Campaign,” one of history’s most significant acts of art censorship.

 

Observe the "sculpted phallus" of David.   Sorry nude prudes, we are all out of fig leafs.  Supply chain issues we suspect.