Abstract

Evaluations of artistic value in Italy and in the United States today are dynamic, alive, and, as evidenced by the most recent Florida to Florence dialogue about Michelangelo’s David, at times problematic because these evaluations require deploying a mix of academic, scientific knowledge and what seem to be gut-instinct feelings by different stakeholders in our communities. How do we respond to requests to mediate the appearance of a celebrated cultural symbol like Michelangelo’s David, whether that request comes from a group of parents in Florida or the cultural institution in Italy which preserves the statue for posterity? This brief reflection seeks to go back to basics, as it were, and outlines the legal contours of, in Italian terms, artistic interest, and, in American terms, serious artistic value, especially for artworks that include artistic or compositional elements, like nakedness, that are increasingly at the edge of notions of decency or appropriateness in our complex contemporary times. It explores serious artistic value under First Amendment law in the United States, touches on how copyright law's constitutional restriction of expression in certain instances of artistic appropriation may presume that a work has several artistic meanings, and argues for a deeper consideration of how to apply decoro in instances when many different uses, both commercial and non-commercial, may appropriately build and reference a work’s artistic value.