London, UK - A suggestion that a Renaissance masterpiece be removed from London's National Gallery and displayed in a cathedral has provoked strong debate over the place of religious art in secular society.
The Archbishop of Westminster, Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, says The Baptism of Christ, painted in the 1450s by Piero della Francesca, should be displayed in a religious setting such as Westminster Cathedral. In a lecture last month he described the Baptism as a "work of faith" rather than art.
"I would like to see this painting taken down from the walls of the National Gallery and placed in a Catholic church in London because it is a mistake to treat it as a work of art: it is a work of faith and piety, an expression of the church's life and a way into prayer," he said.
He tells London newspaper The Times: "Not only is it a beautiful aesthetic image but it also expresses the mystery of the Trinity and Christ revealed."
Such religious paintings should be made available for their original purpose in their original context, he suggests.
His views have provoked the passions of those who believe that great art, particularly works owned by public institutions, be available to all.
Writing in a blog on the website of British paper The Guardian, Jonathan Jones says: "The delight this painting has given many generations of visitors to the National Gallery is proof that religious art does not only belong to the religious."
In a column in The Times, Catherine Pepinster writes that Christianity does not only relate to ethics, "our aesthetic experience is a source of values as well".
The Baptism of Christ has been in the National Gallery since 1861, when it was bought from the Camaldolese abbey at Borgo Sansepolcro, Piero's native town.
It was probably painted as part of an altarpiece in a chapel dedicated to John the Baptist.
The painting is so delicate that it is never lent out for exhibitions and is kept in controlled conditions. During the Blitz in World WarII it was among the masterpieces sent to a colliery in Wales for protection. The work is beyond price: ensuring its security in London's Westminster Cathedral, for example, would be a difficult undertaking.
The National Gallery says visitors are welcome to pray in front of the painting where it is now, in the gallery's Sainsbury Wing. "The National Gallery is a place for the contemplation of great art and of the subjects that great art treats," says Luke Syson, the gallery's curator of Italian paintings of the period.
"By seeing the picture in an especially secluded room (that) evokes a chapel setting, visitors can experience this masterpiece in any number of ways," he says.