The Florence museum which houses Michelangelo’s David has invited the board of a Florida Christian charter school to visit, after the school’s principal was forced to resign following parent complaints that pupils were shown an image of the nude sculpture in a class.
Hope Carrasquilla resigned as principal of the Tallahassee Classical school last week, after the school board told her to quit or be fired. Carrasquilla’s exit came after three parents complained about a lesson on David, with one parent claiming the 16th century Renaissance masterpiece was pornographic.
Over the weekend, 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, Associated Press reported, after expressing surprise at the controversy.
“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,” Hollberg told AP.
Carrasquilla told HuffPost that parents at Tallahassee Classical school would normally be sent advisory letters before students are shown such artwork. “A series of miscommunications” led to the group of sixth-grade students being shown an image of David without express parental consent, Carrasquilla said.
Barney Bishop, chair of the school’s board, has told reporters that the photo of the statue was not the only factor in Carraquilla’s departure, but has declined to elaborate.
In a series of interviews, Bishop echoed language used by Republicans and others on the right as part of a cross-country culture war. Florida, in particular, is currently being subjected to a wave of efforts by its governor, Ron DeSantis, to limit what parents can do and say in schools.
“Parental rights trump everything else,” Bishop told HuffPost. He said that remote teaching during the pandemic had given parents more insight into their children’s education. That insight, Bishop said, led to some parents opting for schools like Tallahassee Classical, which is affiliated with Hillsdale College, a Michigan-based private conservative Christian institution.
“They didn’t like the woke indoctrination that was going on,” Bishop told HuffPost.
On Saturday, Dario Nardella, the mayor of Florence, tweeted that “mistaking art for pornography is just ridiculous”, and said he plans to invite Carrasquilla to Italy, “to give her recognition on behalf of the city”.
In an interview with AP, Carrasquilla said Sunday that she was “very honored” by the invitations to Italy, and may accept.
“I am totally, like, wow,” Carasquilla said. “I’ve been to Florence before and have seen the David up close and in person, but I would love to go and be a guest of the mayor.”
