The museum in Florence which houses the Davidthe Renaissance masterpiece of Miguel Angel, called on parents and students at a Florida private school to visit Sunday after complaints about a class with the statue force the director to resign.
Even the mayor of Florence, Dario Nardella, tweeted an invitation to the director to travel so that he could do so honor her personally. Confusing art with pornography is “ridiculous,” Nardella said.
The Tallahassee Classical School board pressured principal Hope Carrasquilla to resign last week after a photo of David was displayed in a sixth grade art class.
The school has a policy that requires parents to be notified in advance the “controversial” issues. that are taught
The incredulous Italian response highlighted how often they are perceived The American Culture Wars in Europe, where, despite the rise of right-wing positions and governments, the Renaissance and its masterpieces, even the nude ones, are generally free from controversy.
The Sunday front page of the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera published a cartoon by its lead satirist depicting David with his genitalia covered from a picture of Uncle Sam and the word “shame”.
Carrasquilla believes the school board targeted her after three parents complained about a lesson that included a photo of David, a 5m high marble sculpture dating back to 1504. Reflecting the height of the Italian Renaissance, the work depicts the biblical David going to battle against Goliath armed only with his faith in God.
Carrasquilla said two parents complained they weren’t warned in advance that a nude would be shown, while a third called the iconic pornographic statue.
Carrasquilla said in a telephone interview on Sunday that she felt “very honoured” by the invitations to Italy and that she could accept.
“I’m totally excited,” Carasquilla said. “I have already been to Florence and seen the David up close and in person, but I would very much like to go and be a guest of the mayor”.
Ignorance
Cecilie Hollberg, director of the Galleria dell’Accademia, where the David is located, expressed her astonishment at the controversy.
“To think that David may be pornographic it means not understanding the contents of the Bibledon’t understand Western culture and don’t understand Renaissance art,” Hollberg said in a telephone interview.
He invited the principal, school board, parents and students to view the “purity” of the statue.
Tallahassee Classical is a private charter school. While taxpayer-funded and free, it is operated almost completely independently by the local school district and is chosen by parents seeking an alternative to the public school curriculum.
About 400 students, from kindergarten through twelfth grade, attend this three-year institution, which It has already had three directors. It follows a curriculum designed by Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian Michigan school often consulted by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on educational matters.
Barney Bishop, president of the Tallahassee Classical school board, told reporters that while the photo of the statue played a role in Carrasquilla’s removal, it wasn’t the only factor. He declined to provide further details but defended the decision.
“Parents have the right to know at any time that their child is being taught a controversial topic and image,” Bishop said in an interview with online magazine Slate.
Several parents and teachers plan to protest Carrasquilla’s departure at Monday night’s school board meeting, but Carrasquilla said he doesn’t know if he will take the job again even if it is offered.
“There has been so much controversy and so much turmoil,” he said. “I should really ask myself, ‘Is it for the best?'”
Marla Stone, head of humanities at the American Academy of Rome, said the Florida incident was another episode in the escalation of the culture wars in america and questioned whether the statue could be considered controversial enough to warrant notice.
“What we have here is a moral crusade against the body, sexuality and gender expression ea ignorance of historyStone said in an email. “The accident has to do with fear, fear of beauty, of difference and of the possibilities that art contains.”
Michelangelo Buonarroti sculpted the David between 1501 and 1504 Commissioned by the Florence Cathedral. The statue It is the jewel of the Academy and attracts 1.7 million visitors to the museum each year.
“It is chosen by a huge number of Americans who want to take a selfie and enjoy the beauty of this statue,” said director Hollberg.
The museum, like many others in Europe, It is free for student groups. There is no indication that the city or the museum will subsidize any travel.
ap
Source: Clarin
Mary Ortiz is a seasoned journalist with a passion for world events. As a writer for News Rebeat, she brings a fresh perspective to the latest global happenings and provides in-depth coverage that offers a deeper understanding of the world around us.