Javier Romualdo
Florence (Italy) (EFE) whose nude has led to the dismissal of a teacher in the US that outrages the Tuscan city.
Cecilie Hollberg, the German art historian who has directed one of the most visited museums in the world since 2015, attributes to ignorance that the parents of students at a Florida center have confused a “pure” and “innocent” nude from 1504 with a pornographic image.
Michelangelo’s art has been altered in the past, his Sistine Chapel was repainted to dress his protagonists and the fig leaf perforations that hid David’s private parts during the Catholic Counter-Reformation are still visible, but Hollberg recalls that the motivations were different.
“Now very little, if anything, is taught about our culture,” he stresses. It’s banned from school programs everywhere. You can no longer even expect a class to be able to recognize the Virgin Mary or Jesus Christ”.
For this reason, although the scandal has arisen on the other side of the Atlantic, the director considers that we are facing an “unfortunately international” phenomenon, in this case “exaggerated” by the virulence of social networks.
“We are heading to a very strange situation in which a minority rules over the majority. One person said that David is pornographic and as a consequence there is an international scandal that becomes politicized and everyone gets involved, ”she describes ironically.
A teacher is fired in the US for showing the sculpture of Michelangelo’s David to her students
The US press announced last week the resignation of Hope Carrasquilla, from a school in Tallahassee, the capital of Florida, for having shown the famous sculpture to students between the ages of 11 and 12.
The teacher, with 20 years of experience, received an ultimatum from the management of this educational center in the US, where the Renaissance nude of Michelangelo’s David caused fear among some parents.
After the scramble, Florencia took action on the matter. The gallery invited Carrasquilla and the mayor of the city, David Nardella, offered her a tribute after having a “long conversation” with her.
The mayor of Florence: “It’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard”
“He will soon be here to give him recognition for his courage in not accepting the ultimatum and remaining consistent with his commitment to teaching,” argues Nardella during a chat with EFE from his office in Palazzo Vecchio, presided over by a replica of David on air. free.
The mayor spares no qualifications: “It’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.” And although he considers that reaching that extreme in Europe would be more complicated, “given the times” he does not dare to rule anything out.
“In this age of specialization we risk losing sight of the values that have sustained modern civilization. And Florence is a fundamental part of that world heritage, ”she warns.
A museum built for David
Hollberg, for his part, does not want to get into controversy and celebrates that any day of the year, at all hours, even in the pandemic, hundreds of visitors save their turn to see this admired work.
“The museum was built for him,” he says.
Michelangelo’s David came to this small building located in via Ricasoli in 1872, with the intention of protecting it from its previous location, in Piazza della Signoria, and surrounding it with other works by the great Renaissance artist.
A century and a half later, the museum has grown despite a lack of space to become the second most visited center in Italy.
Nearly two million tourists make a pilgrimage each year to admire the corpulent figure and confident expression of the biblical character, the “perfect sculpture”, as Giorgio Vasari described it as early as the 16th century, a classic beauty that has surpassed other representations in popularity, like Donatello’s girlish or Verrocchio’s austere.
In fact, this week Florence is holding an event dedicated to all the images that have captured David in his fight against Goliath.
“He’s our marketing man. I hardly have anyone who works in marketing for this museum, even for communication we are very bad, but he is a tractor, a wonder ”, reassures Hollberg.