Fig leaf
In culture, a "fig leaf" or "fig-leaf" is a literal or figurative method of obscuring an act or object considered embarrassing or distasteful with something of innocuous appearance. The use of an actual fig leaf for the purpose originates in
A "fig-leaf edition" of a work is known as an expurgation or Bowdlerization.
History
From about 1530, the growing response of the Catholic church to the Reformation ideologies that swept Europe and that led to the Council of Trent also led to a number of artworks, especially in churches or public places, being altered to reduce the amount of nudity on display.[5] Often, as in the famous case of Michelangelo's The Last Judgement, drapery or extra branches from any nearby bush was used. This has been dubbed the "fig leaf campaign".[5] For free-standing statues this did not work well, and carved or cast fig leaves were sometimes added, such as with the plaster copy of Michelangelo's David displayed in Victorian era London.[6] In the reign of Queen Victoria, display of male nudity was contentious and the Queen herself was said to find it shocking. The museum commissioned this fig leaf and kept it in readiness in case of a visit by the Queen or other female dignitaries: the fig leaf was then hung on the figure using a pair of hooks.[7] Historian Daniel J. Boorstin said that:
The age of the rising middle class in Victorian England was, or course, the age of the fig leaf. "The fig leaves of decent reticence" which Charles Kingsley described were applied not only to statuary but to literature as well.[8]
The Adam and Eve panels on the Ghent Altarpiece, already equipped with fig leaves by Jan van Eyck, were simply replaced with 19th-century panels copying the figures but clothed. Many of these alterations have since been reversed, damaging some of the statues.
Modern era
The expression fig leaf has a pejorative metaphorical sense meaning a flimsy or minimal cover for anything or behaviour that might be considered shameful, with the implication that the cover is only a token gesture and the truth is obvious to all who choose to see it.[10]
A metaphorical fig leaf is something visible but innocuous, as against a
Gallery
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The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, by Masaccio, before and after restoration. It was painted in 1425, covered up in 1680, and restored in 1980.
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Cornelis Cornelisz. van Haarlem
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Adam is Tempted by Eve by James Tissot
See also
Citations
- V&A Museum. Retrieved 5 March 2009.
- ^ Genesis 3:7. WikiSource. "...and they sewed fig leaves and made themselves waist-belts"
- BibleGateway.com. Retrieved 2019-08-06.
- ISBN 0-691-01788-3.
- ^ a b Babbs, Verity (2024-02-21). "Art Bites: How the Modesty Police Used Fig Leaves to Censor Nudes". Artnet News. Retrieved 2024-02-21.
- ^ "David's Fig Leaf". Victoria & Albert Museum. Archived from the original on 2007-06-03. Retrieved 2017-02-08.
- V&A Museum. Retrieved 5 March 2009.
- ISBN 978-0679741800.
- ^ Anderson, R. Christian. "Sandow Wearing a Figleaf". SandowMuseum.com. Retrieved 2007-05-29.
- ^ "Cable derides 'fig leaf' tax cuts". news.bbc.co.uk. 2008-11-24. Retrieved 2010-09-16.
General bibliography
- Kuh, Richard H (1967). Foolish Figleaves?: Pornography in and Out of Court (2nd ed.). Macmillan.