London’s transport authority has refused to display a poster featuring the 16th century “Venus” by German artist Lucas Cranach the Elder, saying it is overtly sexual.
The painting depicts a golden-haired, milky-skinned woman cocking her hips behind a transparent veil.
It is one of 70 works due to go on display at London’s Royal Academy of Arts on March 8.
The academy says that Transport for London, which runs the British capital’s subway system, refused to display a poster of the work unless the bottom half was cropped out.
Spokeswoman Jennifer Francis says the academy is shocked and it would be uncomfortable altering the artist’s work—completed in 1532—by cropping it.
Transport for London said they turned the poster down out of respect for commuters’ varied tastes.
“We have to take account of the full range of travellers and endeavour not to cause offence in the advertising we display,” the organization said in a statement.
It said its rules bar advertisements that portray people “in a sexual manner’” or “in an overtly sexual context.”
Cranach, a friend of Protestant Reformation leader Martin Luther, often painted nudes, Francis said. She added the academy saw nothing overtly sexual in the piece.
“We actually thought it was quite an innocent painting,” she said.
