Sandow Wearing a Figleaf

Photographed in New York in 1894, Sandow wears a trademark "figleaf". These were placed on many statues from the Greco-Roman period during the Middle Ages in Christian Rome, and the practice spread. Many statues in the Victorian times that were sculpted with frontal nudity, were fitted with a fig leaf. The Victoria and Albert Museum has one that was made for Michelangelo's "David". It toured the United States in 1999 without the Statue. Sandow, being the living work of art he was, wore a figleaf, and often, as seen at the right, powdered all over with a coat of talc. His fair skin coated with the powder made him appear as a marble statue.

One will note, especially in the photo at right, that Sandow indeed did have the most incredible proportions in his physique. He was magnificently balanced and symetrical in every way. Small wonder why we still speak of his physique today.

It is interesting to note that the "fig leaf" often resembles an alder, maple or elm leaf.