Michelangelo's white marble David has survived lightning, medieval riots, and a dousing in acid so you would hardly expect a light cleaning ahead of his 500th birthday to raise alarm.

But the planned washing using water and poultices has riveted Italy's art world, pitting restorers against each other and prompting 50 international scholars to demand an independent study.

The feud over David's fate is just the latest chapter in a long and bitter debate over whether art should be left to succumb to the effects of time, restored to its original beauty, or at least occasionally brushed up.

The man leading a crusade to save one of the world's most famous sculptures from what he says is the indignity of a public scrubbing is a recurring figure in the deeply-felt drama.

"David is an icon of Renaissance art, the symbol of Florence, the biblical hero of the Jews, it's everything to everybody," said James Beck, an art historian at Columbia University and president of ArtWatch International.

"I can't believe they'll go through with it, it's such a trauma and the whole world is watching," Beck said during a recent sojourn in Tuscany where he owns a summer home with his Italian wife.

He says David's visage will be altered and fears officials could decide at the last-minute to use harsh solvents.

With typical zeal, the 73-year-old New York-native dashed off indignant letters to local and national governments and drew up a petition signed by art historians and Michelangelo specialists from around the world to demand a new study.

But Tuscany's art superintendent Antonio Paolucci has shrugged off the controversy and ordered the "gentle wash" using double-distilled water to start in September.

SEEKING PUBLICITY?

"There wouldn't be so much fuss if people didn't think they could make a name for themselves by talking about David, the most famous man in the world after all," Paolucci said.

Beck's critics, in fact, have accused him in the past of trying to draw attention to himself by criticising restorations, including that of the Vatican's Sistine Chapel in the 1980s, which in the end turned out to be a huge success.

Italy, the heart of the Roman empire and the cradle of the Renaissance, is at the centre of the international art restoration storm.

David, a five-metre (16-foot) nude depicting the Biblical hero who killed Goliath, was unveiled by Michelangelo in 1504. Carved from a single block of marble, he has become the symbol not only of masculine beauty but of Italy's rich artistic heritage.

In a bid to care for its treasures, Italy established the world's first restoration centre and school in 1939 and has trained many of the leading international specialists.

An Italian is now heading art restoration efforts in war-hit Iraq and another directed St Petersburg's facelift ahead of the city's 300th birthday earlier this year.

But Italy's prominence has also made it an easy target for scholars like Beck opposed to any kind of intervention even if it is aimed at restoring art to its original form.

"In my view, any restoration means imposing the present moment on art. It changes it forever, no going back," said Beck, adding that officials are often just after publicity stunts to boost tourism.

And Italy is not alone. From London's National Gallery to New York's Metropolitan Museum, masterpieces have been "subjected" to less than perfect restorations, critics say.

YELLOW STAINS AND GRIMY TOES

Beck's tirades paid off last year when Florence's Uffizi Gallery scrapped plans to intervene in one of Leonardo da Vinci's works to avoid a public debate.

But most of his battle cries have gone unheeded and his critics have dismissed him as an alarmist.

Back in 1985 when Beck first grabbed headlines by declaring the planned restoration of Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel would destroy the work's "subtlety", he found few supporters.

The Vatican's 14-year restoration after years of meticulous study uncovered Michelangelo's brilliant palette behind centuries of grime and wowed art historians around the globe.

But the feud over how to take care of Italy's, and the world's, cultural heritage has just grown.

Last year, Florence trumpeted plans to give David his first bath in more than a century.

The sculpture was hit by lightning in 1512, his left arm was broken in political riots in 1527 and he was scrubbed with hydrochloric acid in the 19th century. The argument for a bath to remove the yellow stains on his chest and the gypsum eroding his toes would seem a cinch.

But what started as a purely academic dispute over "dry" or "wet" restoration methods ended in controversy after the head restorer Agnese Parronchi quit to protest against the@severe method chosen by officials.

"I don't always agree with Beck, but I have to admit I'm glad he's bringing the issues out into the public," Parronchi said. "He makes sure we don't get too carried away with our restoration enthusiasm."

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