(ANSA) - A leading art historian has called for a 16th-century masterpiece to be locked up safely after another renowned Florentine sculpture was damaged by vandals last week.
Speaking in a press interview following damage to a statue of Neptune, Mina Gregori said a bronze sculpture of the Greek hero Perseus holding aloft the Gorgon Medusa's head should be immediately removed from its public location.
"It should be taken away from Loggia dei Lanzi and replaced by a copy," she told the daily La Nazione.
"It's simply absurd that one of the greatest masterpieces in the world should remain exposed to bad weather and vandals." This is not the first time there has been talk of replacing Benvenuto Cellini's sculpture with a copy.
City authorities intended to shift the figure to a museum - like Michelangelo's famous David - at the end of a costly four-year restoration job. However, the repairs, which concluded in 2000, were so successful that they decided to return it to its original public plinth.
Florence's art heritage chief Antonio Paolucci on Tuesday stressed that nothing had changed since then, describing Gregori's warning as "foolishness".
"The Perseus is guarded 24 hours a day by paid personnel, financed by a Florentine bank, and is just fine," said Paolucci, a former culture minister.
"I see absolutely no reason to replace it with a copy."
With the exception of the restoration, the sculpture has stood in the same location since April 27 1554.
Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571) was a goldsmith, writer and sculptor who for centuries was known more for his intense and revealing autobiography than for the many works he left behind.
But recent re-evaluations have placed him among the greatest artists of the high Renaissance and a key precursor of Mannerism. He was in constant trouble with authorities for his duelling and brawling, and was exiled from his native Florence at the age of 16.
However, he counted numerous famous and powerful patrons during his career, including Pope Clement VII, Pope Paul III, King Francis I of France and the Florentine Medici family. He was credited with rediscovering the Greek and Roman technique of casting a whole piece of bronze at once. The usual practice in the Middle Ages and early Renaissance had been to cast works in pieces and then join them.
The Perseus, which was made from a single casting of 1,800 kilos of bronze, was his most famous sculpture produced using the technique.
