L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JULY 27, 2017 www.italoamericano.org 18 L'Italo-Americano ELIZABETH SALTHOUSE Fig leaves : The great Italian cover-up A ncient Romans and Greeks adored the human form, sculpting and paint- ing it in all its nu de glory. Renaissance artists who followed centuries later were captivated by the purity of the ideal ancient forms and revived classical val- ues to fill contemporary palazzi with frescoes and statuary of nudes to great acclaim. Why then are so many now covered with fig leaves or strategically placed loin clothes and who decided to cover up every naked male in the Vatican? The ancients' views of nudi- ty If you take a walk around the ancient Roman ruins of Pompeii there's one thing that will strike and possibly even shock you straightaway : the number of penises on show. They are liter- ally everywhere: scratched into walls by graffitists, carved onto street signs, painted in frescoes, modeled in statues, pointing to houses and even embedded into the pavements. And the nudity doesn't stop with the men either, nor is it restricted to art in the city of Pompeii. As a pagan society Romans w ors hipped divinities , often depicted nude. Athletics compe- titions were often conducted largely naked to ensure competi- tors w ere unencumbered by tunics or restrictive garments. And public baths were a funda- mental element of Roman culture as a place where everyone could relax, chat and bathe without class restrictions or clothing. Classical civilizations regarded the birthday suit quite differently and were very relaxed about nudity, nakedness and the body in general. Viewed through the prism of today's societal norms, misin- formed guidebooks or titillating tourist guides, the Romans seem like sex-crazed hedonists fixated on nudity. But the truth was rather less salacious. Romans appreciated a fine-turned ankle, lean athleticism and a strong, noble chin. And unlike today, the male member was seen as a sym- bol of good luck and fertility with a smaller package being preferable as it meant the owner had conquered life's most basic urges. Just like their ancient Greeks neighbors, Romans celebrated the nude form for its power, poise and purity. So when did we become so puritanical at the sight of boobs, bits and bums? Medieval European values For the answer we need to fast forward a few centuries. A s the Roman Empire's power waned, a new religion began to take hold in Europe bringing with it new beliefs and very different ways of living. Gone were the pagan gods, nudi- ty and public bathing; in came chaste living, celibacy and cov- ering up. Christianity had arrived and with one metaphorical mouthful of forbidden fruit, the biblical story of Adam and Eve killed off the classic heroic nude. Divinity was no longer naked and the human body was now the vessel of sin. So artists increasingly mirrored the sinful pair's mod- esty by painting, sculpting and carving fig leaves across the nether regions of figures to avoid depicting carnal sin. Rather than representing purity or godliness, nudity came to denote the unfortunate, the weak, the damned and the resi- dents of hell. Nudity meant sin, carnal behavior and had absolutely no place in the newly Christian world except in pieces such as the "Expulsion from Paradise" by Giovanni di Paolo or D ante's famous Inferno, painted in the late Middles Ages by Botticelli. There was no rea- son to study the nude anymore and so clothed figures became the new norm in medieval art. But if you've ever wandered through the co rridors of the Uffizi Gallery you know that that wasn't the end of this partic- ular story. Th e clas s ical n u d e Renaissance revival A fter the res traint of the M iddle A ges , the Italian Renaissance signaled a new era of enquiry, dis covery and reawakening. The remains of Antiquity, that had been dotting the Italian capital and country- side for centuries, now captured the imagination of living artists curious to examine, emulate and recreate their cultural forebears' works. Art patrons and collec- tors followed suit, commission- ing pieces that reflected ancient sensibilities, restoring the nude to its former glory as a symbol of beauty. Figures in the classical style started to reappear from the mid to late 1200s and within a couple of centuries had become the norm for many artists. Donatello recreated the biblical hero David in classic athletic proportions in 1440. A nd his s ucces s or Michelangelo went a stage fur- ther studying classical statues in person including the compelling Laocoon and his sons, one of the most famous ancient works ever excavated. The piece had lain undis- turbed in a vineyard on the Es quiline H ill, near Roman Emperor Nero's Domus Aurea complex and the Coliseum, until it was unearthed in 1506. Little was known about the sculpture so young Michelangelo was dis- patched by his patron P ope Julius II to investigate. The mae- stro immediately recognized the s tatue as ancient and of an exceptionally high standard, canvassing the Pope to buy it for his growing art collection that was to go on public display shortly afterwards. Many have since suggested that Laocoon's redis covery ins pired M ichelangelo and, later, G iambologna' s Rape of the Sabine Women, along with other Renaissance artists in their vig- orously heroic, nude statues. In Venice the female nude was also making a comeback with Titian's Venus and the Lute Player, a painting showing a reclining goddess with Cupid at her shoulder putting a garland of flowers on her head, whilst a musician plucks at the lute at her feet. By dressing the lute player in contemporary costume Titian magically linked myth with real- ity, fact and fiction and rooted antiquity's love of the naked body firmly in the Italian Renaissance ethos. And such was the renewed enthusiasm for the nude that artists even re-introduced them to religious art. Nakedness was no longer associated with the damned or devilish; nudes were once again saintly, devout and holy and larger than life. They even adorned the walls of the Vatican in Michelangelo's The Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel, a fresco famous for its giant, muscular nudes, painted in stark contrast to the weak and skinny nakedness of medieval times. But as the twin trajectories of Michelangelo's career and the popularity of the classic nude reached their s imultaneous zenith, attitudes in the church to nudity were hardening. The Italian fig leaf cam- paign For decades the Renaissance had s ignified freedom from restraint, but some of the more traditional clergy felt that artists had cros s ed a moral line by bringing nakedness into chapels and churches. Biagio da Cesena, the Papal Master of Ceremonies w as s o outraged by Michelangelo's violation of the Sistine Chapel, deeming his work "more suitable for public baths or taverns," that the artist Daniele da Volterra was hired to cover the Sistine Chapel's nudes with breeches of leaf and loin- cloth. M eanw hile the northern Catholic Council of Trent was so irate that they insisted numer- ous works be covered up with strategically placed loincloths or biblically-inspired fig leaves, thus instigating a counter-refor- mation. The fig leave campaign had begun, but it didn't just impact paintings and frescoes. Statues and sculptures faced censorship too but for these three-dimensional works new s olutions w ere needed. F ig leaves of all shapes and sizes were carved, cast and molded for famous Renaissance figures. Some were loosely attached with hooks, able to be removed or affixed as required. Some were molded on and others still were permanently attached, damaging sculptures irrevocably. And the materials varied too with plaster and bronze fig leaves being s ome of the mos t common. Some sculptures even had their genitals chiseled off, negating the need for a fig leaf and ren- dering them impotent forever. Some artists rebelled against the crack down. Michelangelo cast clerical critic Biagio da Cesena as Minos, judge of the underworld, painting him with donkey ears as revenge and set- ting him in a corner of his Last Judgement for all to see. Some simply had their work painted over, covered up or even replaced as in the Adam and Eve panels of the Ghent Altarpiece by Jan van Eyck which were substituted in the 1800s with panels showing clothed figures. And others had their works per- manently disfigured with brass loincloths or fig leaves attached that can never be removed. Today, despite changes in societal sensibilities, the fig leaf campaign continues as succes- sive galleries and Popes refuse to remove the covers . S ome works have been returned to their original naked glory with conservators dabbing away paint fig leaves during restoration. But ironically it was the fact that V olterra's Las t J udgement breeches were left intact during a recent restoration of the Sistine Chapel that caused the most controvers y; the leaf had become part of the chapel's story. It has even been suggested that the addition of fig leaves may have saved some of the world's most famous master- pieces from the des tructive wrath of the Council of Trent. Others have implied that the rather unfortunate shape of the leaf actually drew attention to the thinly veiled male members, turning perfectly natural, pure bodies into sexual, forbidden and even erotic figures. Either way the figgy foliage seems to be here to stay, at least until the next Renaissance….it's up to the view er to decide w hether it saves our modesty or sullies pure masterpieces. Rather than representing purity or godliness, nudity came to denote the unfortunate, the weak, the damned and the residents of hell LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE

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