The Finger Angus Trumble

In this collision between art and science, history and pop culture, the acclaimed art historian Angus Trumble examines the finger from every possible angle. His inquiries into its representation in art take us from Buddhist statues in Kyoto to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, from cave art to Picasso's Guernica, from Van Dyck's and Rubens' winning ways with gloves to the longstanding French taste for tapering digits. But Trumble also asks intriguing questions about the finger in general: how do fingers work, and why do most of us have five on each hand? Why do we bite our nails? This witty, odd and fascinating book is filled with diverse anecdotes about cow-milking, the fingerprint of a grave robber in King Tut's tomb and a woman in Trumble's local bank whose immensely long, coiled fingernails do not prevent her from signing a check. Side by side with historical discussions of rings and gloves and nail varnish are meditations on the finger's essential role in writing, speech, sports, crime, law, sex and, of course, the eponymous show of contempt.

More about this title

Find out more from the author's blog

Angus Trumble is Senior Curator of Paintings and Sculpture at the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut, and the author of A Brief History of the Smile.

Drawing on his knowledge, Mr Trumble investigates fingers in art, from cave pictures through to Michaelangelo's 'Creation of Man', classical works by Anthony van Dyck and Peter Paul Rubens portraying the fashion for gloves, and Pablo Picasso's 'Guernica', with its anatomically correct knuckles and nails.'
- The Economist

‘In an easy yet learned style he traces the finger through art, culture, myth and biology to deliver a comprehensive story of this most obvious yet overlooked digit. A really enjoyable read.’
- Alexandra Henton, The Field

‘The Finger is a book of intermittent charm and insight.’
- James Hall, Literary Review

‘The Finger is informative, wide-ranging and fun.’
- Nicola Smyth, The Tablet

'Written skippingly, and wears its wide-ranging scholarship lightly.’
- Michael Glover, Independent (Arts Books)