…is he truly lost or just waiting for his owner to return
In the past I have posted photos of lost gloves, mittens, hats, crib toys and dozens of masks. Yesterday on my walk I came across this lovely fellow leaning up against a post. Is he lost or is someone hoping he’ll be adopted and taken to a new home?
….thanks to Sue and her partner over at Weekly Prompts for hosting this challenge https://weeklyprompts.com/2022/05/25/weekly-prompts-wednesday-challenge-missing/
*WARNING* if you are offended by nudity in art or the antiquities you may not want to continue reading this post. Just saying…..
On our trip to London this year we spent a couple of hours at the British Museum. We went there primarily to see the Stonehenge Exhibition but our tickets were time sensitive so we decided to pass some time in the other galleries. The first gallery, on your right as you enter the museum, houses some of the collection donated by Hans Sloane who was directly responsible for the opening of the British Museum. He donated some 71 000 pieces from his personal collection on the premise that the museum itself would remain free of charge to the British people and anyone outside of Britain who wanted to see it. Sloane is not without his dark side and in recent years it was revealed that much of his collection and wealth were derived from slavery. In 2020 his bust was removed from the entrance and moved into the gallery next door and encased under glass with an explanation as to how slavery contributed to his wealth.
In this same gallery are many statues from ancient Greece and Rome. It is here that I found the ‘missing’ component of this post. It is not unusual to see parts of these statues with missing limbs and even heads but it seemed that every single nude male had his penis removed, not broken off but actually sliced off. I found this odd and I wondered why so I did some research.
Many scholars believe that the missing appendages fell off during an earthquake, which was quite a common occurrence in Greece and Rome but others believe that converts to Christianity back in the 5th century were offended by the exposed genitalia and the parts were consequently emasculated or were provided with a loincloth (cemented in place). In later years some believe that missionaries, dealers and some collectors had a hand in removing parts that they deemed offensive. This scant disrespect for the integrity of the items may explain the condition of the statues and sculptures that I witnessed on the day I visited.
In 1857 Queen Victoria was gifted a full scale cast of Michelangelo’s David . She was apparently so taken aback by the frontal nudity that the museum commissioned a fig leaf to conceal the offending genitalia for subsequent visits of Her Royal Majesty. On my our first trip to the V&A our son pointed out the gold plated fig leaf and explained the significance to us. We found it quite amusing.
If you want more information about how and why this happened you may find this paper by Jeremy MacClancy interesting.
Cutting and Covering Up Ethnographica: The Culture of Curatorshiphttps://www.theasa.org/publications/asaonline/articles/asaonline_0108.shtml
…lost toys, balls, clothing items, etc.
These are more items I’ve seen on our hikes and in the neighbourhood. Notice that there’s not one mask this week.
…unfortunately many of the disposable masks are not really lost, merely tossed aside
Even when I was teaching I could never understand how children could lose snow pants, winter jackets and boots and not set off alarms at home. It’s one thing, however, to not bring home clothing from school but how do you lose one boot in the park and not notice?
….no masks this time but lots of mittens and gloves
It seems now that the snow has melted there are numerous lost mittens and gloves. The stuffed toy may not have been lost but it certainly was misplaced when it ended up on top of the lighthouse structure. Some kind people have taken the lost items and placed them on tree branches so that people might see them as they walk by and hopefully retrieve what belongs to them.
….I continue to find lost items on my walks
….still finding masks but more winter accessories are showing up
Not so sure that this last one was lost because when came by later a couple of kids were playing with it.
….finding more masks and now gloves on my daily walks
When we first came up with the idea to photograph lost masks it seemed like they were everywhere. Now that we’re looking for them it seems that they are harder and harder to find and I guess that’s a good thing. On our most recent walk, however, quite a few popped up. Here are the most recent in my photo gallery of lost items.
Mama Cormier 