Michelangelo’s “David” Two Views
Let’s face it. Book banners and art-haters base their disgust on their own sexuality. The first image is what right-wing haters want to see. Humanists and art lovers prefer the second image. Why?
It’s pretty obvious why. Even the image of naked full-frontal warrior David should never be shown to students. Art books should be pulled from the shelves in red states. How perverted, they say. The human body must not be seen naked like it has been depicted throughout history by sculptors and painters long before Michelangelo. He gets a bad rap.
What’s missing in this right-wing attack on art is a love of the history of sculpture and paintings of nudes over time. They apparently believe anyone who looks at David or other nudes will become perverts. I think they actually believe that. However, I’m one of millions who love Michelangelo’s genius in sculpture and painting —ones who aren’t perverts after decades of appreciating the skill taken to make lifelike humans from stone.
I’m including a link to a comprehensive photo collection from Getty Images. Even these photos can’t take place of seeing David in person. I was with a large group of tourists walking in circles around the statue. Haters look at the genitalia; art lovers study the hands and feet, the muscles in his arms and legs, his head and facial expression. I rest my case.
https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/michaelangelo-david
Ironic of you to denigrate the Christian religion when Michelangelo's greatest masterpieces were comissioned for and by Catholic popes. And contrary to your misinformed opinion, works depicting the beauty of the human body were praised by many Christian Neoplatonists for demonstrating the God created beauty of the human physique. But of course it's much easier to brand all conservatives as philistines, despite the fact that high art was made by and for conservatives.
It's disheartening to see such valuable pieces criticized without understanding the depth of their historical and artistic significance. Keep championing the love for art and its timeless legacy! Your eloquent defence of art and the appreciation for the human form is truly inspiring.