Something rather odd was discovered beneath the fig leaf of The Crawford’s Apollo
It’s been an exciting week at The Crawford Art Gallery.
Sculpture conservator Eoghan Daltun began removing the plaster fig leaves from six male figures in the gallery’s collection of 200-year-old Canova Casts, restoring them to their original state, before the prudish cover-ups were added around 1818.
When it’s complete, the fig reveal will reverse nearly 200 years of censorship and conserve these important works for the future.
Now curator and art historian Michael Waldron has revealed that the work on the cast of the Apollo Belvedere turned up something a little out of the ordinary.
When the plaster fig leaf was removed from the statue, a 1971 Irish halfpenny was found to be contained inside.
This week will see the final repairs made to the newly exposed body parts so watch this space.
