Dust is collecting on David’s marble muscles just months after the statue was given a controversial clean. But rather than risk washing Michelangelo’s delicate masterpiece with water again, the museum that houses the 500-year-old sculpture may bathe it with air.
The millions of people who visit the Accademia gallery in Florence, Italy, each year carry dirt and grime from the city’s streets into the museum’s halls. This wafts around inside, settling on the statues. Chemicals in the dust could damage the marble from which David is carved.
Since David’s last spruce-up, completed in May 2004, new grime has been particularly obvious on his freshly buffed curves.…
