
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.
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(below)
Another version of the same photograph

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