Fig Leaf The Biggest CoverUp in History

Stephen Smith uncovers the secret history of the humble fig leaf opening a window onto 2000 years of Western art and ethics He tells how the work of Michelangelo known to his contemporaries as the maker of pork things fuelled the infamous fig leaf campaign the greatest coverup in art history how Bernini turned censorship into a new form of erotica by replacing the fig leaf with the slipping gauze and how the ingenious machinations of Rodin brought nudity back to the public eye In telling this story Smith turns many of our deepest prejudices upside down showing how the Victorians had a far more sophisticated and mature attitude to sexuality than we do today He ends with an impassioned plea for the widespread return of the fig leaf to redeem modern art from cheap sensation and innuendo