David’s Penis - Turning Tuscan: A Step-by-Step Guide to Going Native - page 122

David's Penis
F or several years during the mid-nineties my wife, Pam, and I taught short courses on
Renaissance art through extended education programs all around the San Francisco Bay
Area. After brief introducing ourselves we would dive right in by turning down the lights
and projecting an image on the screen. We always began with a 14 th century painting of a
Visit of the Magi to the Holy Family by a Sienese artist named Bartolo di Fredi. We would
ask students to write down something about the image that they found striking, something
that grabbed their attention.
We did this same exercise dozens of times with different groups over a period of years. One
of the remarkable things we discovered was that, every now and then, someone would men-
tion something about the painting that neither we nor anyone in our previous classes had
ever noticed. There it was, plain as day, and, yet, no one had ever mentioned it before. This
happened on multiple occasions and never failed to astonish us. Even odder was this: once
the “discovery” had been made, subsequent groups would typically observe it on a routine
basis.
ImentionallthisbeforeapproachingdiscussionofDavidbecausesomethingsimilarappears
to have happened with Michelangelo's masterpiece. We had been visiting David with groups
large and small for many years. Until last season no one had ever asked why David, the
Jewish shepherd boy, was uncircumcised. Since then, there's hardly a group where someone
doesn't pose the question. It would seem that the issue of David's penis has arisen, so to
speak, in our collective consciousness. Hence the time seems propitious to attempt a cutting-
edge analysis of this topical theme.
***
There is a Jewish joke about a visitor who comes to a shtetl, a little Jewish village, some-
where in Poland. As he walks through the narrow streets, he notices that many of the shops
have an object hanging above their entrances that clearly identifies the type of activity that is
carried out in the shop. He sees a hanging shoe, and inside he observes several shoemakers
at work. He passes a clock over a doorway and notices the watchmakers busily making re-
pairs. Then he passes a storefront and sees an old umbrella hanging there. He looks inside
and sees an elderly gentleman dressed like a Rabbi reading quietly at his desk. Puzzled, he
steps inside.
“Good day to you, sir. May I ask what kind of work you do?”