![]() The systemic defacing of art continued in the name of preserving the roots of Christianity. The fig leaf campaign demolished the rawness and artistry of renaissance painters. To counter Protestant charges that the Roman Church was backsliding into paganism, Catholic leaders began covering statues’ genitals. Consequently, many people began to view nude statues as pagan idols. Thus nudity became a sign of paganism in Medieval Europe and the Byzantine Empire. The earliest depictions of Adam and Eve in the catacombs of Rome showed them holding the fig leaves to cover their naked bodies. The Bible mentions that Adam and Eve covered themselves with fig leaves after eating the forbidden fruit. Why use fig leaves as a cover-up choice for classical sculptures Historian Leo Steinberg pointed out in his 1983 book The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion, that “many beautiful and antique statues” were “censored” in Rome by the order of Pope Paul IV. The Council of Trent hunted for all the nude sculptures in Rome and started the campaign of carefully placing metal fig leaves to cover the genitals. Therefore, Pope Julius II forced Michelangelo to repaint the religious figures and cover their nakedness. ![]() These criticisms pressurized the Popes to condemn nudity in artwork and start using modesty to portray their biblical figures. Cardinal Carafa called the piece to be censored and Biagio da Cesena, the Pope’s master of ceremonies, vociferated the fresco paintings to be suitable for ‘public baths and taverns’ and not a chapel. In the 1540s, Michelangelo was contracted by the Pope to paint the wall of the Sistine Chapel with fresco art depicting The Last Judgment.īut his nude art was condemned heavily by the powerful clergymen. Powerful clergymen wanted to clothe the nude David. “We must stop shielding ourselves behind a culture of art and forsaking religion.”The Roman Catholic Church initiated the censorship campaign with Michelangelo’s David. In an effort to counter Protestantism’s growing popularity, Catholic leaders spread the message that: But in the 1500s, the acts of art censorship began when the Counter-Reformation took over the Vatican and started portraying nudity as immodest and obscene. The ancient marble sculptures were chiseled with a nude body and that represented honor and virtue. Until the 1400s, Romans were traditionally inspired by Greek art. The fig leaves were synonymous with sin, sex, and censorship. The cover-up choice was a ‘Fig Leaf’.The fig leaf campaign became a significant art censorship movement in the medieval period. And then there are all those athletic-looking Romans and Greeks with foliage stuck between their marble legs.In 1563, the Council of Trent launched the ‘ Fig Leaf Campaign ’ to camouflage the penises and public hair visible in art across Italy. Already questions are being asked about the drapery on many figures in Michelangelo's ''Last Judgment'' even though the Sistine Chapel restorers are not scheduled to reach that painting for at least two years. ![]() Lots of fig leaves remain elsewhere in Italian museums, and the issue is likely to be debated every time it comes up. It was decided to remove them because they detracted from the original and were deteriorating anyway. Eventually the fig-leaf issue reached a committee of the Culture Ministry. Those issues are of substantial interest now because Italy is the midst of a boom in restoration activities prompted partly by the willingness of big corporations to finance the work. There has been lively discussion of the restorer's role: Are the fig leaves part of the frescoes' history? Should old censors be censored by new censors? Should restorers do anything that is irreversible? Not everyone saw it as such a simple matter. ![]() It's historical context and critical analysis that determine the restorer's action.'' ''To respect Masaccio, we must restore them to their original state,'' she said. Ornella Casazza, had no doubt about what should be done. When they reached Masaccio's ''Expulsion From Paradise,'' they faced a peculiar dilemma: Sometime around 1680 an anonymous but apparently censorious painter had added fig leaves to the figures of Adam and Eve, even though they powerfully portrayed shame and grief just the way Masaccio had painted them, nude. Since 1984 restorers have been consolidating the frescoes and removing layers of grime and an egg-based sizing that had blackened considerably.
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