Michelangelo’s marble man is back in the news after the Florida Department of Education recognized its “artistic” and “historical significance”.
According to Alex Lanfranconi, director of communications for the Florida Department of Education, “Florida welcomes the teaching of classics and classical art and will not discourage their use in the classroom.”
Hope Carrasquilla is the principal of a Florida school that was forced to quit last month after showing a picture of a renaissance David sculpture to sixth graders. The story caught the attention of the internet and inspired speculation and even a live stream parody. Given the setting, Florida’s history of controversy, male nudity (taken for granted) and, more seriously, its implications for discussions going on in the American South about what counts as age-appropriate education, this was probably inevitable.
The chairman of the school board, said in an interview that the problem was not with David, but with a “flagrant” failure to inform parents that their children were viewing “possibly controversial” art. The school follows a “classic curriculum model” that emphasizes the importance of “Western culture centrality” and a return to “basic virtues”.
Republican lawmakers in Florida tried to introduce classical education classes into the secondary education system. This came in response to conservative concerns that public education had recently focused too heavily on the social issues of race and gender identity.
Hillsdale College, a Christian university in Michigan, has cut ties with a Florida charter school due to the scandal. According to a college spokesman, it will no longer have access to Hillsdale College’s classical curriculum as its license “is revoked and expires at the end of the academic year.”
The Florida Department of Education, in turn, said that the state can no longer ban the teaching of Renaissance art.
“No other artwork is equal to it in any respect, with such just proportion, beauty and excellence did Michelagnolo finish i.” Giorgio Vasari.
Michelangelo’s David was created between 1501 and 1504. It is a 14.0 ft marble statue depicting the Biblical hero David, represented as a standing male nude.
The statue of David one of Michelangelo’s most breathtaking masterpieces of gleaming white marble. The biblical figure of David became the symbol the liberty and freedom of the Republican ideals, showing Florence’s readiness to defend itself.
Nowadays, visitors can admire the David under a skylight which was designed just for him in the 19th century by Emilio de Fabris. From a close distance, one can perceive Micheangelo’s passion for the human anatomy and his deep knowledge of the male body.
