Michelangelo’s David was censored in Scotland after the USA!
Vita gazette – Michelangelo’s David causes scandal again, advertising censored in Scotland. A poster of the statue in a Glasgow restaurant has been edited for obscene.
It is a globally recognised work of art shown in schools. People from all over the world travel to see her in Florence. We are no longer in 1500 but in 2023. We think and say that people can’t bear seeing a naked statue! A Glasgow restaurant was forced to cut out the statue’s nudity. What a shame!
An image of the symbol of Renaissance male beauty has been deemed inappropriate for the underground in Glasgow, Scotland, due to the statue’s nudity. The ad was for the Barolo restaurant in central Glasgow, part of the Drg group of hospitality establishments. The poster showed David eating a slice of pizza and carried the phrase, “There is nothing more Italian”.
The company that manages the advertising spaces of the Glasgow underground rejected the initial image of David proposed by Barolo, requesting a second version after the stickers of the Italian flag on the groin area “were not big enough”. As a result, the final Barolo restaurant commercial, entirely reprinted and approved by Global for display, features the marble sculpture cut to the waist.
Started in Florida
The sculpture recently made headlines after some parents complained about its inclusion in the curriculum of a private school in Florida, so much so that principal Hope Carrasquilla was fired for authorising the photo of David to be shown to students of a class at Tallahassee Classical School. The incident went around the world. Carrasquilla and his family were later invited by the mayor of Florence, Dario Nardella, to see the statue in person at the Galleria dell’Accademia. The former principal’s and her family’s visit took place at the end of April at the expense of Friends of Florence, a non-profit association of US patrons.
An award for the fired principal
The mayor of Florence, Dario Nardella, has proposed to award the American teacher Hope Carrasquilla. Nardella has announced that he wants to invite the dismissed principal to Florence to take her to admire the statue of David kept in the Accademia Gallery. He wrote on Facebook: “A Florida teacher was forced to quit for showing students photos of Michelangelo’s David. Confusing art with pornography is simply ridiculous. I will personally invite the teacher to Florence to give her recognition on behalf of the city. Art is civilisation, and whoever teaches it deserves respect”.
The Academy Gallery
“Is absurd; nudity does not correspond to pornography”, reacted Cecilie Hollberg, director of the Galleria dell’Accademia, a Florentine museum which houses Michelangelo’s David. “David is the symbol of the Renaissance, which focuses on a man in his perfection as God created him. David is a religious figure expressing our European culture; the Renaissance has absolutely nothing pornographic about it”.
And explains: “He is a naked young man because he was a shepherd boy. Nudity has nothing to do with pornography; the connection between these two things seems impossible. David is the quintessential work of art, so clean, sober and clear in expression. To make an association with pornography, one must have a distorted imagination. They are confusing nudity with pornography.”
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