An American assault rifle manufacturer has drawn the ire of Italy's culture minister after an advertisement depicting Michelangelo's David holding a massive AR-50A1 was published in an Italian newspaper. 
 
 The ad is actually a year old -- the company tweeted it on May 15, 2013 -- and part of the company's "work of art" campaign: 
 
 Another ad shows an ArmaLite AR-301A on the wall of a museum in between American Gothic and the Mona Lisa. The barrel of the gun is pointed at Mona Lisa's head. Italy's probably not going to like that one, either. 
 
 The country, which claims the copyright to the statue, is trying to force ArmaLite to remove its ad. The director of the Accademia Gallery, where David (sans weapon) is on display, said the ad was both in "bad taste" and "completely illegal." 
 
 "The image of David, armed, offends and infringes the law. We will take action against the American company so that it immediately withdraws its (advertising) campaign," Culture Minister Dario Franceschini tweeted (translation per the AFP). 
 
 And the Historical Heritage and Fine Arts Board curator Cristina Acidini has issued a "legal notice" to the company demanding that it withdraw the ad. 
 
 It's always nice to see America making such positive impressions overseas. 
 
 ArmaLite is currently having a "McArmaLite March Sale" on its weapons, featuring the image of a leprechaun wielding one of its assault rifles. ||||| In 1527 his arm was smashed by rioters. In 1991 a man attacked his toe with a hammer. Now, however, Michelangelo's David has suffered arguably his greatest indignity to date. 
 
 To the horror of many in the Italian cultural establishment, the world-famous marble statue has been pictured in an advertisement cradling not a slingshot but an American-made rifle. 
 
 An image of David brandishing an AR-50A1 sold by ArmaLite, a 60-year-old Illinois-based small arms engineering company, has provoked such ire in Italy that the culture minister took to Twitter to demand the advert be "immediately" ditched. 
 
 "The advertisement image of the [statue of] David armed offends and infringes the law," read a post by Dario Franceschini. "We will take action against the American company which must immediately withdraw the campaign." 
 
 Entitled A Work of Art, the advert shows David preparing to take on Goliath with the large rifle instead of his humble sling and stones. 
 
 Florence, home not only of the 16th-century statue but also of the new prime minister, Matteo Renzi, has expressed particular indignation. The superintendent for the city's historical heritage and fine arts board, Cristina Acidini, has reportedly issued the company with a legal notice asking for the image to be withdrawn. 
 
 A philosopher and the city's councillor for culture, Sergio Givone, claimed in newspaper La Repubblica the depiction was "a real abuse". "It is an act of violence towards the sculpture; like taking a hammer to it and perhaps, actually, even worse," he said. 
 
 But art critic Philippe Daverio poured cold water on the row, comparing the US advert to tongue-in-cheek images of the Mona Lisa with a moustache. "Certain cultural icons belong to everyone and no one; to humanity in general," he was quoted as saying. ||||| The 500-year-old Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece was painted in Florence before he took it to France where it has been displayed ever since. 
 
 The aim was to raise a 100,000 signature petition to return the Mona Lisa to Florence in 2013, exactly 100 years after it was recovered following a theft from the Louvre in 1911. 
 
 The painting has officially left Paris just three times – once in 1962 when it went to New York and Washington and 12 years later when it was exhibited in Moscow and Tokyo. 
 
 The painting was stolen in 1911 by an Italian when the theft was not discovered for two days and the painting was not recovered from Florence for two years. 
 
 Mr Clooney warned that he would make the provocative call for the Mona Lisa to leave its French sanctuary at a bad-tempered press conference in London where he backed Greek demands for the recovery of the Elgin Marbles. 
 
 Mr Clooney previously called for "an open discussion" on returning the Parthenon Marbles to Greece this week, throwing into question the friezes, which were taken by Lord Elgin 200 years ago. 
 
 Both the Vatican and the J Paul Getty Museum had sent parts back, Clooney said, raising the question "of whether or not one piece of art should be, as best as possible, put back together." 
 
 "There are certain pieces that you look at and think, that actually is probably the right thing to do," Clooney said. 
 
 The fate of the marbles, originally part of the Parthenon temple, is a longstanding issue between Britain and Greece. Greece calls them looted art, and wants all the friezes reunited in a museum in Athens. 
 
 Greek Culture Minister Panos Panagiotopoulos thanked Clooney for his support, calling him "an active citizen and creative artist who adamantly defends what is just and good." 
 
 The British Museum, which houses the marbles, says they "are a part of the world's shared heritage and transcend political boundaries" and are best displayed in London, where the public can view them for free. 
 
 Mr Clooney, who directed and stars in "The Monuments Men," said he hadn't meant to spark a storm when he answered a question from a Greek journalist about the marbles at the Berlin Film Festival last week. And he said he'd been told that, as an American, he couldn't understand the issues.
– Italians are a wee bit upset about an ArmaLite ad that shows a massive $3,000 rifle cradled in the arms of Michelangelo's David, the BBC reports. "The image of David, armed, offends and infringes the law," tweeted culture minister Dario Franceschini. He vowed to take action against the Illinois-based small arms company for its AR-50A1 rifle ad, which reads "a work of art" along the top. A gallery director in Florence noted that the law forbids distorting a work of art's aesthetic value: "In this case, not only is the choice in bad taste but also completely illegal." "It is an act of violence towards the sculpture; like taking a hammer to it and perhaps, actually, even worse," said a city councilor in Florence, reports the Guardian. But Italian art critic Philippe Daverio pooh-poohed the uproar, comparing ArmaLite's ad to cheeky images of a mustached Mona Lisa: "Certain cultural icons belong to everyone and no one; to humanity in general," he said. If true, that's good news for ArmaLite, which has another ad showing its AR-301A on a museum wall between American Gothic and the Mona Lisa—pointed at Mona Lisa's head, The Wire reports.