Dal New York Times
By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO
ROME — The government cover-up making headlines and befuddling the public in Italy this August has been a clumsy attempt to hide the truth.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and the re-veiled “The Truth Unveiled by Time.”
The truth, in this case, refers to an 18th-century allegorical figure in a painting by Tiepolo that serves as a backdrop for government news conferences in Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s official residence.
It was retouched in recent weeks to cover an exposed breast, which “might have upset the sensitivity of some viewers,” Paolo Bonaiuti, the prime minister’s spokesman, told a Milan daily newspaper, Corriere della Sera, over the weekend. “That breast, that little nipple, ends up right in the shots that TVs make during press conferences.”
Mr. Bonaiuti said the touch-up had been the “initiative of those who look after the prime minister’s image.”
The painting depicts “The Truth Unveiled by Time” and the original is in the Palazzo Chiericati in Vicenza, which houses the civic museum. A few years ago Mr. Berlusconi saw the work, liked it and asked for a digital copy that was later blown up, said Alessandra Bertuzzo-Lomazzi, a manager there. The painting became the backdrop for news conferences earlier this year, after Mr. Berlusconi became prime minister for the third time.
“It’s a wonderful concept, that the passing of time will show who is right and who is wrong,” said Antonio Paolucci, the director of the Vatican Museums. “It’s the perfect choice of a message for a government.”
But Mr. Paolucci was more perplexed by the decision to censor the image. “Between its collection of classical sculptures and Renaissance paintings, the Vatican is full of nudes,” he said.
There’s no scandal there. With one exception: Michelangelo’s “Last Judgment,” in the Sistine Chapel, where the genitals of the figures were covered with loincloths in the 16th century.
“That was done during the moment of greatest prudishness of the Counter-Reformation,” Mr. Paolucci said of the repainting by Michelangelo’s contemporary, Daniele da Volterra, which earned the artist the nickname “il Braghettone” (the breeches-maker).
Newspaper commentators have pointed out that Mr. Berlusconi, who owns Italy’s three largest private television stations, has not shied away from showcasing scantily clad women in scores of television shows.
And then there’s tradition. From an iconographic point of view, “the truth is usually depicted nude,” Ms. Bertuzzo-Lomazzi said. “It’s kind of pointless to have wanted this allegory and then to cover it up. They could have chosen another subject.”
ROME — The government cover-up making headlines and befuddling the public in Italy this August has been a clumsy attempt to hide the truth.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and the re-veiled “The Truth Unveiled by Time.”
The truth, in this case, refers to an 18th-century allegorical figure in a painting by Tiepolo that serves as a backdrop for government news conferences in Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s official residence.
It was retouched in recent weeks to cover an exposed breast, which “might have upset the sensitivity of some viewers,” Paolo Bonaiuti, the prime minister’s spokesman, told a Milan daily newspaper, Corriere della Sera, over the weekend. “That breast, that little nipple, ends up right in the shots that TVs make during press conferences.”
Mr. Bonaiuti said the touch-up had been the “initiative of those who look after the prime minister’s image.”
The painting depicts “The Truth Unveiled by Time” and the original is in the Palazzo Chiericati in Vicenza, which houses the civic museum. A few years ago Mr. Berlusconi saw the work, liked it and asked for a digital copy that was later blown up, said Alessandra Bertuzzo-Lomazzi, a manager there. The painting became the backdrop for news conferences earlier this year, after Mr. Berlusconi became prime minister for the third time.
“It’s a wonderful concept, that the passing of time will show who is right and who is wrong,” said Antonio Paolucci, the director of the Vatican Museums. “It’s the perfect choice of a message for a government.”
But Mr. Paolucci was more perplexed by the decision to censor the image. “Between its collection of classical sculptures and Renaissance paintings, the Vatican is full of nudes,” he said.
There’s no scandal there. With one exception: Michelangelo’s “Last Judgment,” in the Sistine Chapel, where the genitals of the figures were covered with loincloths in the 16th century.
“That was done during the moment of greatest prudishness of the Counter-Reformation,” Mr. Paolucci said of the repainting by Michelangelo’s contemporary, Daniele da Volterra, which earned the artist the nickname “il Braghettone” (the breeches-maker).
Newspaper commentators have pointed out that Mr. Berlusconi, who owns Italy’s three largest private television stations, has not shied away from showcasing scantily clad women in scores of television shows.
And then there’s tradition. From an iconographic point of view, “the truth is usually depicted nude,” Ms. Bertuzzo-Lomazzi said. “It’s kind of pointless to have wanted this allegory and then to cover it up. They could have chosen another subject.”
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