It’s Just Nuts!
CAUTION!
Close your eyes before proceeding any further…..if you don’t, you may be emotionally ruined for life!
Gasp! (Clutch your pearls here).
These are pictures of the statue of David, created by one of the greatest artists of all time, Italian renaissance artist Michelangelo.
In the early 1500s, 29-year-old Michelangelo carved this magnificent statue out of a single piece of Carrara marble.
It stands 17 feet tall and weighs 6 tons (12,000 pounds). A feat that leaves you in awe!
Having two undergraduate degrees in art, I have studied and written papers on David in my many art history classes. I have attended lectures discussing David. I had the pleasure of seeing this statue in person in 2000. The photographs you see are mine, unless otherwise noted.
Viewing this artwork in person left me in awe and sometimes speechless. Pictures simply do not do it justice!
After viewing this magnificent artwork, what I took away from this statue (aside from the it’s sheer size) is the attention to the veins, muscles & tendons.
How did he carve those details out of stone? How did he make something look so soft out of something so hard? How did he carve something so big and keep it all in perfect proportion? How did he accomplish the natural human stance known as contrapposto in stone?
Contrasppsoto refers to the natural standing position of the human body, with weight leaning on one leg and a shift in the body to counter this. David is a perfect example of this. You see David’s weight on one leg, forcing his hips, spine and shoulders to tilt in order to retain balance. Michelangelo accomplished this in a single piece of marble. Truly mind blowing!
After that you start noticing other details, such as David’s toenails, his fingernails, the curve of his fingers, the details of his hair and facial expression.
Eyes. Those eyes. Those magnificent eyes carved perfectly out of stone. What do those eyes see? (picture from Getty Images)
Rarely, I mean rarely do you fixate on the penis. It’s there but that’s not what you view David for and his penis is not what leaves you in awe.
Frankly, it is insignificant; rather small. In other words, it’s not what you’re going to be talking about when you describe David, unless of course that is what you WANT to focus on.
If all you take away from David is his penis, you’re not there for the beauty of art. The Galleria dell’ Accademia di Firenze isn’t the place for you. You’ll probably be more comfortable in ….ah hem…. a seedier place of business.
As a veteran art teacher, I teach renaissance lessons every year. We discuss artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli, to name just a few. You can’t teach an effective lesson on the Renaissance without talking about these artists and their artworks and their contribution to society and history.
Students on the elementary level do not have the intellectual capacity at that age to truly understand and appreciate the human body.
So when discussing Michelangelo I don’t focus on David. It would be pointless and serve no purpose. They simply would not understand it.
By middle and high school, they do understand the human body and its parts.
In my secondary level renaissance art lesson we do study David and the Sistine Chapel. To my knowledge none of my students were left emotionally scarred because they saw David. Yes, I had a lot of giggles because they are adolescents. They snicker at the words butt, fart and poop.
The artworks in the Sistine Chapel have nudity. Not only will you see bare breasts, but a buck naked Adam in the Creation painting. We also see God’s bare butt. (picture from Getty Images)
Viewing the magnificent artworks in the Sistine Chapel will not leave you feeling dirty. The nudity is not what you will take away after experiencing a visit to the Sistine Chapel.
Remember if the nudity is all you’re focusing on you’re not there for the artwork. The local porn store is more suited for you.
I write this in the wake of what has happened this past week at The Tallahassee Classical Charter School in Florida where a principal was fired because three parents complained that their middle school age children were left emotionally scarred after viewing David in a renaissance art lesson.
One parent describes their child as “point blank upset”. Another referred to David as pornographic and accused the school of showing porn to students.
I am not going to give these parents any more attention, but if you want to know more, click here https://www.edweek.org/leadership/a-lesson-on-michelangelos-david-cost-a-florida-principal-her-job/2023/03or a quick Google search will provide you with a plethora of information.
These three narrow-minded parents clearly do not speak for all parents and referring to something as beautiful and magnificent as David as pornographic is just insanity.
Parents should be concerned about what their children are exposed to, but a renaissance art lesson is not where their concerns should be focused.
They should be worried about what their child is being exposed to on TV, TikTok, YouTube, social media, text messages, especially those that disappear after reading. Attention should be given to knowing who your child’s friends and influencers are.
There is no documentation of David causing any emotional breakdowns among children, however there is plenty of evidence of mental health suffering caused by technology…..looking at you TikTok. Tune into the hearings that are currently being held for some eye opening facts about this app. Take some time to watch The Social Dilemma on Netflix.
Technology should be replaced with museum visits. I guarantee your child will feel better after spending a few hours in a museum in lieu of a few hours on TikTok or YouTube. However, I must warn you will see nudity when visiting an art museum.
(clutch your pearls here).
But ask yourself, would you rather have your child see a nude figure in an art museum celebrating the beauty of the human body created by God or would you rather have your child see nude bodies in a pornographic manner that degrades humanity? Which do you think will have the most positive impact?
You will not see porn in an art museum, but I can not say the same for the internet. I urge you to allow your child to run freely (figuratively speaking) through a museum rather than run freely on the internet.
Before you say “but I have parental controls”, let me point out that I learned how to get around my school’s firewall and any type of parental controls from my middle school students. They know more than you think.
While beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, porn is very distinctive.
A drawing of a human figure in a book about puberty is there to help an adolescent understand and feel comfortable with their own body. Its intent is to properly identify male and female body parts and what they mean.
A nude figure in a medical book is there to educate and train medical professionals.
An artwork of a nude figure is there to study and appreciate the beauty of the human body, which God gave us.
A pornographic image is created and distributed with intent to profit off of pure raw sex. The profit is either financial or sensual or in most cases both. It’s about wielding power. Porn ultimately degrades the humanity of the people involved. It leaves you, or it should, feeling dirty, ashamed, disturbed. Porn is not healthy, mentally or physically and will often cause deep permanent damage to a young mind.
Michelangelo created David to celebrate the beauty of the human body. It was created with the intent to celebrate humanity, not to degrade it. To say otherwise is just plain nuts!
