I was in Detroit last week for a wedding, and I made a visit to the Detroit Institute of Art, which was nearly worth the trip in itself. What a great museum! A beautifully designed space with an inspiring collection of some real treasures. I hope for Detroit’s sake they don’t have to sell them. In an appropriate-to-the-weekend-highlight was this fantastic painting “The Wedding Dance” by Pieter Bruegel the Elder (ca. 1566). Of course I’ve seen it before, but not until it was in front of my face did I notice the amazing detail of this gentleman’s codpiece – with what appears to be a money purse in it! There are so few painting sources for codpieces used as pockets that they are precious to come across:
If you’re interested in learning more about that fascinating fashion, you can visit this video I made about the History of the Codpiece.
