The Italian museum which houses Michelangelo's David Sculpture has invited parents and board members of a US school to visit, after the principal was forced to resign following complaints that students were shown "pornographic" material.
The board of Tallahassee Classical School, Florida, pressured Principal Hope Carrasquilla to resign last week after an image of the iconic statue, which depicts an entirely naked biblical figure David, was shown to a sixth-grade class. Parents complained about the lesson saying that the 16th-century Renaissance masterpiece was "pornographic". Some even said that they wanted to know about the lesson before it was taught.
Now, even though the school has stated that the principal was not let go because of the lesson, Cecilie Hollberg, director of the Galleria dell'Accademia, where the David sculpture resides, invited the school board, parents and student body to view the "purity" of the statue. According to the BBC, Ms Hollberg stated that the principal should be "rewarded, not punished".
"Talking about the Renaissance without showing the David, an undisputed icon of art and culture and of that historical period, would make no sense," Ms Hollberg said.
"To think that David could be pornographic means truly not understanding the contents of the Bible, not understanding western culture and not understanding Renaissance art," she added.
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Further, the director of the Florence museum went on to say that she could not believe that the principal was actually fired because of the lesson. "A distinction must be made between nudity and pornography. There is nothing pornographic or aggressive about the David, he is a young boy, a shepherd, who even according to the Bible did not have ostentatious clothes but wanted to defend his people with what he had," she said, as per the outlet.
Separately, the mayor of Florence, Dario Nardella, also invited the teacher who showed the students image of the statue to visit the city and its works of art. "Mistaking art for pornography is simply ridiculous," he tweeted. "Art is civilisation and those who teach it deserve respect," Mr Nardella added.
Meanwhile, Barney Bishop, chairman of the school board, said that last year the principal sent a notice to parents warning them that students were going to see Michelangelo's David, but this wasn't done this year. He called it an "egregious mistake" and said that "parents are entitled to know anytime their child is being taught a controversial topic and picture".
"We aren't trying to ban the picture," he said, referring to the statue of David.
