The Great Italian Cover Up

VOCABULARY

Some people may be offended when they see naked bodies or a naked statue. I personally, am sometimes very offended when I walk up to the Museum of Modern Art, in Salzburg, and see photographs or paintings of woman, which show their naked bodies in a very brutal way: with blood smeared all over them or in indecent positions. I find this disgusting and unnecessary. However, when I go to Florence and stand next to Michelangelo’s "David", I am overwhelmed by its beauty and perfection. Unfortunately, not everyone is quite so overwhelmed.

The Iranian president, Mr Rouhani, visited Rome last week and to save his blushes, all nude statues that were on show had to be boarded up. Yes, while the president held a press conference with Matteo Renzi, the Italian prime minister, a life-sized statue of Venus emerging from a bath had to be covered up by panels. This amazing marble statue was once owned by none other than Pope Benedict XIV, who must have seen it thousands of times and was certainly not offended. To make this story even more ridiculous, aids travelling with Mr Rouhani objected to their leader standing too close to a 2nd-century bronze statue of Emperor Marcus Aurelius on horseback, because the horse’s genitals were on show. Italy’s prime minister also ordered other works of art to be covered up, so as not to offend the Muslim. Imagine visiting the Capitoline Museum, to be greeted by huge boxes instead of Cupid and Psyche, a 2nd-century marble statue showing lovers entwined in an embrace; or Leda and the Swan, an erotic portrayal of the Queen of Sparta clutching Zeus in the guise of a swan.

There wasn’t any alcohol served at a dinner with Mr Rouhani, out of respect for the president’s abstinence. Obviously, the Italians learnt from the faux pas committed by the French when wine was on the menu at the Elysée Palace, last November. The Iranians called off the feast. I agree that we should all respect each others’ religion and beliefs, but isn’t this going too far? Imagine Italy with no art, no statues and no wine! When in Rome do as the Romans do! Mr Rouhani talked to business leaders in Rome about tolerance. Many Italian politicians and art dealers are furious about the great cover up of Italy’s art treasures and say that we should respect other cultures but not if we have to deny our own. I couldn’t agree more.

This is not the first time that works of art have been covered up or removed, so as not to offend. In 1857, the Grand Duke of Tuscany gave Queen Victoria a plaster cast of Michelangelo’s "David". It is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, but a fig leaf was made to spare the visitors’ blushes. In 2002, the US Justice Department spent $8,000 on curtains to hide two semi-nude statues because John Ashcroft, the attorney general, refused to be photographed in front of them. An exhibition at Qatar’s Olympic and Sports Museum removed three ancient Greek statues in 2012 because they were too revealing, and in 2013 the UN covered a relief carving of a nude male in its Geneva office when an Iranian delegation arrived. The Manneken Pis, in Brussels (which is a bronze statue of a naked boy urinating into a basin) has had many costumes made for him – to keep him warm and cover him up. Even here, in beautiful Salzburg, there was such an uproar when the statue "Arc de Triomphe", showing a naked man with a rather large penis bending over backwards, was erected. Unfortunately, it had to be removed as Prince Charles, and his then fiancée, Camilla Parker Bowles, were invited to the Summer Festival. We all know what the human body looks like: if you don’t like it – don’t look! to agree – übereinstimmen decent – anständig to be offended – beleidigt sein naked bodies – nackte Körper smeared – beschmiert disgusting – widerlich unnecessary – unnötig overwhelmed – überwältigt to blush – erröten boarded up – mit Brettern vernagelt life-sized – lebensgroß to emerge – auftauchen to cover up – bedecken panels – Bretter owned by – Eigentum von none other – niemand anderer ridiculous – lächerlich his aids – seine persönlichen Berater to object to – dagegen sein on horseback – zu Pferd on show – sichtbar to imagine – sich vorstellen entwined – ineinander verschlungen embrace – Umarmung portrayal – Darstellung in the guise – in Gestalt von to call off – absagen belief – Glaube furious – zornig treasures – Schätze to deny – leugnen removed – entfernt plaster cast – Gipsfigur fig leaf – Feigenblatt curtains – Vorhänge attorney general – US-Justizminister to refuse – sich weigern too revealing – zu freizügig his then fiancée – seine damalige Verlobte