Mussolini: should he be erased?
Every so often it comes up about the inclusion of Mussolini in the fresco inside Madonna della Difesa. This writer thinks this work by Guido Nincheri should be erased. The church, and the community around it, have resisted the idea of painting over the fresco for years.
Would we all be better off if this art was painted over with plain white primer? Can anyone really believe that preserving this glowing Nincheri piece is done out of respect for Mussolini?
MarcG 10:37 on 2020-07-03 Permalink
Hire a local graffiti artist to deface him? “Cock in mouth” would be classic but maybe not to the church’s tastes.
Mark Côté 11:43 on 2020-07-03 Permalink
“Can anyone really believe that preserving this glowing Nincheri piece is done out of respect for Mussolini?”
While modifying a fresco isn’t a small thing, I think it’s been demonstrated here sufficiently that intention is not enough to justify keeping something offensive around.
Kate 12:20 on 2020-07-03 Permalink
True. But if someone paints a black rectangle over Benito there, it’ll call more attention to him.
I guess it’ll have to go. The church better price out some house painters.
Uatu 13:45 on 2020-07-03 Permalink
I guess they could put up a plaque or something pointing out il duce and who was and why he’d be in the fresco.
Re: cock in mouth; Italians urinated on Mussolini’s corpse when it was strung up so that wouldn’t be surprising
Michael Black 14:44 on 2020-07-03 Permalink
It’s an odd artifact since it’s a painting on the ceiling rather than a painting in a frame or a statue.
I saw it almost forty years ago, cycling by the church, a friend wanted to go in and see it. He was born in Italy, though came over young and ultimately stayed. It was the novelty, not sympathy to Musolini’s ideas.
This is what some people believed in at one point. It seems important to keep it to remember that bad time.
mare 15:17 on 2020-07-03 Permalink
They could paint is over with a portrait of another deserving politician of that era, say Lionel Groulx.
No current or recent politician will be known for being “the replacement of Mussolini”, and putting our local saint Pere André there might not go over well with his admirers, and it’s not “his” church anyway.
So either leave it and make a plaque of some sorts explaining about its history, or just paint some nice trees or other scenery in place of Il Duce.
Kate 15:18 on 2020-07-03 Permalink
It seems important to keep it to remember that bad time.
Thing is, that argument could be used to keep any of the statues now being taken down in response to repugnance to slave ownership and other historical wickedness.
Pieces that are only memorial, and without other virtues, should probably be obliterated.
My argument about this piece is simply the aesthetic value. It’s a gorgeous piece. Admittedly, Nincheri was not Michelangelo, and this piece is something of an imitation of Renaissance painting, but it’s not like we have a whole lot of that kind of thing here.
The church is not always open, but now and then it is, and it really is a piece worth seeing in place – and see it soon. I think the feelings of the community must be respected. A plain off-white paint will suffice. I’d happily climb up and wield the first roller. We’re in an age of iconoclasm and it befits us to comply.
Chris 16:41 on 2020-07-03 Permalink
>putting our local saint Pere André there might not go over well with his admirers
He was a charlatan, pushing nonsense oil cures. And he was a member of a racist, misogynist, homophobic organization. Surely not someone to memorialize.
Matthew H 17:39 on 2020-07-03 Permalink
This feels different than the statues, as the figure is a small part of a painting which itself is part of the larger architecture.
They should obscure his face with a black line or an X. A simple gesture to acknowledge that revering or honouring this person was wrong. The fresco is fascinating, I hope they don’t destroy it with clumsy alterations. Painting over Mussolini with someone else would be an absurd solution to this problem.
Matthew H 17:43 on 2020-07-03 Permalink
Alternatively, they could just install an air conditioner right where his face is.
MarcG 17:47 on 2020-07-03 Permalink
There are probably a bunch of less-famous assholes in that painting as well. I see some white-saviors-of-Africa stuff happening on the left side…
Kate 21:37 on 2020-07-03 Permalink
It would be fair to assume that none of the people portrayed on the two bottom tiers held attitudes we would approve of today. Maybe if we painted them all out, and simply kept the angels and the Virgin Mary at the top? Or do we regard the Virgin as a poor role model for women, and erase the whole thing?
MarcG 09:18 on 2020-07-04 Permalink
I don’t think that the current movement has any beef with people’s attitudes – it’s their behavior that matters. And in that case I think you’re right that the mythical creatures would get a pass.