You wouldn’t think a guy with a name like Cuccinelli would be uptight about bare breasts in art. I mean, there was this thing called the Renaissance that was kind of big in Italy.
Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli apparently isn’t fond of wardrobe malfunctions, even when Virginia’s state seal is involved.
The seal depicts the Roman goddess Virtus, or virtue, wearing a blue tunic draped over one shoulder, her left breast exposed. But on the new lapel pins Cuccinelli recently handed out to his staff, Virtus’ bosom is covered by an armored breastplate.
When the new design came up at a staff meeting, workers in attendance said Cuccinelli joked that it converts a risqué image into a PG one.
And Larry Sabato is correct that Cuccinelli has no excuse for setting himself up for ridicule. Everyone remembers when U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft put drapes over the boobies at the Justice Department.
When even Italian-American Republicans start exhibiting prudishness about nudity in art, you know something has gone badly wrong with the psychology of that party.
The Great Seal of the Commonwealth is a two-sided image that dates to 1776.
The side depicted on the state flag features Virtus standing victoriously over Tyranny, a male figure prone on the ground in defeat, his crown fallen from his head. Beneath him is the motto Sic Semper Tyrannis: Thus Always to Tyrants.
Three Roman goddesses – Libertas, Aeternitas and Ceres – grace the reverse side of the seal. Cuccinelli isn’t the first to have less-revealing garments placed on Virtus.
Multiple varieties of the seal have been used over the years, said State Capitol historian Mark Greenough. The modern version is based on language added to the state code in 1930, which specifies that Virtus is “dressed as an Amazon” while clutching a spear in one hand and a sword in the other.
The secretary of the commonwealth, Janet Polarek, is charged by law with being the keeper of the seal. Asked for an assessment of Cuccinelli’s interpretation, she declined to offer an opinion. When Virtus was fighting Tyranny, Polarek said, “a dress code was probably not her first concern.”
Maybe we should go back to making everyone learn Latin and Greek. Too many people learn the Judeo-Christian part of our culture without learning the Greco-Roman part. And, no, I am not talking about wrestling.
