Thrust: A Spasmodic Pictorial History of the Codpiece in Art (ekphrasis)

About this book

A laugh-out-loud visual history of the strangest piece of mens clothing ever created: the codpiece. The codpiece was fashioned in the Middle Ages to close a revealing gap between two separate pieces of mens tights. By the sixteenth century it had become an upscale must-have accessory. This lighthearted illustrated examination of its history pulls in writers from Rabelais to Shakespeare and figures from Henry VIII to Alice Cooper. Glovers witty and entertaining prose reveals how male vanity turned a piece of cloth into a bulging and absurd representation of masculinity itself. The codpiece painted again and again by masters such as Titian Holbein Giorgione and Bruegel became a symbol of royalty debauchery virility and religious seriousnessall in one. Centuries of male self-importance and delusion are on display in this highly enjoyably new title. Glovers book moves from paintings to contemporary culture and back again as it charts the growing popularity of the codpiece and its eventual decline. The first history of its kind this book is a must-read for art historians anthropologists fashion aficionados and readers looking for a good long laugh.