![]() ![]() On her academic blog, Alberti's Window, art historian Monica Bowen has recounted the history of using fig leaves to censor genitals in the early modern period. This modesty wreath was in place until at least around the mid-16th century. Yet it was another David, by Michelangelo, that would cause a stir due to its nudity. When the 5.17 meter tall David (called Il Gigante) of Michelangelo was installed in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence in 1504, authorities immediately placed a garland called a ghirlanda made of twenty-eight copper leaves around his waist in order to cover his nakedness. Donatello's small bronze statue of David from around 1440 is considered the first nude statue since antiquity (well, that we know of). The Renaissance brought about the revival of classical statuary and with it, nudity. Certain biblical scenes such as the crucifixion had nudity and numerous manuscripts transmit depictions of naked martyrs, but the shift to the use of clothing was a sign of modesty and Christianity that took root. However, the heroically nude statues of classical antiquity began to become a symbol of a "pagan" past within medieval Europe and the Byzantine Empire.Īs classical archaeologist Troels Myrup Kristensen has noted, "In medieval manuscripts, naked statues on columns frequently served as signifiers of idolatry." Within western medieval art, nudity still played a role, albeit to a lesser extent than it had in antiquity. Classical statuary depicting heroic nudes and other types of naked bodies continued to be appreciated during the late empire. ![]() Well into the later fourth century, fig leaves were attached to the story of the Garden of Eden but were notably not applied to all works of art. The earliest depictions of Adam and Eve in the catacombs in Rome (from the third and fourth centuries CE) often show the two shamefully clutching fig leaves to cover their naked bodies. ![]()
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