Posted on 01/27/2016 12:03:23 PM PST by nickcarraway
In the 16th century, Daniele da Volterra was mocked by contemporary artists for agreeing to paint loincloths on Michelangeloâs nudes in the Sistine Chapel. Italian protocol officials must now know how da Volterra felt.
Italyâs opposition leaders, commentators and media grew increasingly vocal in their criticism on Wednesday of ancient nude statues being covered by white boxes in Romeâs city hall and museum complex for a visit by Iranâs President Hassan Rouhani.
Italian newspapers ran photographs of the boxes on their front pages and even the minister of culture called the decision âincomprehensible.â He suggested a different venue could have been chosen to host Rouhani, who signed up to 17 billion euros (dollars) of business deals on his two-day trip.
âCovering those nudes covered Italy in ridicule,â was the front-page headline in Il Giornale, a leading opposition paper.
Neither Culture Minister Dario Franceschini nor Prime Minister Matteo Renzi had been informed of the decision, Franceschini said. The Iranian embassy had asked for the statues to be covered and officials in Renziâs office had agreed without consulting their bosses, Italian media reported.
Renziâs office said it had started an internal investigation into the matter. A spokesman said he had no information about whether Iran had asked for the statues to be covered. Asked about the clash of cultures at a news conference before leaving Italy, Rouhani said he knew nothing about it and thanked Italy for being âvery hospitable.â
Francesco Rutelli, a former Rome mayor and culture minister, said covering the statues was âtotal idiocy and a cultural sacrilege.â âYou canât erase history. It would have been enough to have him go in another way,â he said.
Even mainstream newspapers usually sympathetic to the government weighed in, saying the decision was tantamount to denying the countryâs own culture.
âCovering those nudes ... meant covering ourselves. Was it worth it, in order not to offend the Iranian president, to offend ourselves?â the left-leaning La Repubblica said.
La Stampa criticized âthose geniuses of protocolâ who feared that Rouhani might have had a âhormonal shockâ if he saw the statues and canceled contracts with Italian companies.
More than four centuries ago, the Vatican commissioned da Volterra to paint veils and loincloths over some of Michelangeloâs nudes in the Last Judgment, an 1,800-square-foot panel in the Sistine Chapel.
One papal master of ceremonies at the time is said to have told the pope that the painting was âmore fitting for a bathhouse or a tavern than a papal chapel.â Da Volterra went down in art history with the nickname âbreeches maker.â
Unless the “anger” causes their government to do something different the next time a similar situation occurs, they might have saved themselves the stress.
The premier of Italy must go. He covered up the a$$es, tits and private areas of statues so as to not offend someone who favors hanging gays.
Renzi has bowed down in submission to a savage with a towel on his head.
“The Italians had to cover the statues to keep the moose limbs from raping the female ones.”
Better cover up the little cherubs, too.
the ones of young boys would be in more danger...
LOL
bump
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