ROME ( Associated Press) — In the Florentine museum, which invited parents and students from the Florida school to visit the houses of Michelangelo “David”, after the principal of the school had to resign due to the complaints of the parents, because the picture of the Renaissance master was shown in the sixth grade art class.
The mayor of Florence, Dario Nardella, also invited his governor to visit him. Confusing art with pornography is “ridiculous,” Nardella said.
The Italian response reflects how America’s culture wars are often perceived in Europe, where, despite the growth of its law and power, the Renaissance and its masterpieces, naked or not, are generally opposed.
But the board of trustees of the Tallahassee Classical School forced the Carrasquilla principal to resign last week after a picture of “David” was revealed in an art class. The school policy requires parents to be warned when “controversial” subjects are being taught.
Carrasquilla believes the painting was requested after three parents complained about a document showing a photograph of a 17-foot-tall (5-meter) nude marble sculpture from 1504. The work, considered a masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, shows the biblical David. he approaches Goliath’s face wearing only faith in God.
Carrasquilla said that he did not warn two of the parents of the complainants that he was going to show nudes, and the third said that the work was pornographic.
Carrasquilla said in a telephone interview on Sunday that he was “very honored” by the invitations to Italy and that he could retire.
Cecilie Hollberg, director of the Galleria dell’Accademia, where “David” is located, is surprised by the controversy in Florida.
“To think that ‘David’ can be pornographic really shows the error of the Bible, the error of Western culture and the error of Renaissance art,” Hollberg said in a phone interview.
He invited the school board, parents, and student body to see the “purity” of the statue.
