Michelangelo David once again got into trouble. The Renaissance sculptural masterpiece was taken from an advertisement made for the Underground system in Glasgow, Scotland, due to the nudity. The incident reminds recent dispute in Florida when parents of students at a conservative charter school complained about the statue’s inclusion in the curriculum.
The DRG group, which manages the Barolo restaurant, presented David on a poster that depicts the sculpture eating a slice of pizza with the slogan, “It doesn’t get more Italian.” But the firm Global, which manages the metro’s advertising spaces, initially rejected the image.
The poster was later revised, incorporating Italian flag stickers that covered the crotch area. “We had stickers made and the feedback was that they weren’t big enough,” said Nadine Carmichael, sales and marketing manager at DRG Group. BBC. “Our next stop was to show Michelangelo from the waist down. We finally got there.”
Mario Gizzi, director of the DRG group, which runs Barolo, said The temperature: “It is a globally recognized work of art. It is taught in schools. People from all over the world travel to see it. It’s not the 1500s anymore, it’s 2023. Are we really saying that the people of Glasgow can’t stand to see a naked statue? Global had not responded to a request for comment at the time of writing.
David was at the center of a culture war in Florida after Hope Carrasquilla, the principal of the Tallahassee Classical School, was ousted by the school board when three parents of students complained about the statue, one of them stating that her child “shouldn’t see these pieces”.
Jeff Kottkamp, the school’s general counsel, said The Journal of the Arts: “The controversy has never been about art. This was to follow the school’s policy of notifying parents whenever a subject that could be considered sensitive comes up in class.
But Cecilie Hollberg, director of the Accademia Gallery in Florence, said: “As director of one of the most important museums in the world, precisely because of Michelangelo’s sculpture David– a Renaissance masterpiece, an icon of sculpture – I am surprised at the ignorance that seems to be at the heart of what happened in Florida.
