A new bust sculpted to commemorate the wife of a Romanian president must be reworked because its breasts are too large, the country's Ministry of Culture has insisted.
Central European News reported that the sculpture of Arethia Tatarescu has drawn astonished looks after it was unveiled in the local park of her home town of Targu-Jiu.
Pompiliu Ciolacu, head of the local council's Culture Department, said: "Artistically it’s exaggerated, and that means that aesthetically it doesn’t resemble the real image of the person".
A bust to commemorate the wife of a former Romanian president in her hometown of Targu-Jiu
Radu Boroianu, a deputy minister in the Romanian Ministry of Culture and a modern art enthusiast, called for the sculpture to be taken down and reworked by local artist Paul Popescu.
Gorj County Council had paid more than £4,000 for the work.
But Popescu has refused, calling it a "totally arbitrary reason and at the end of the day in artwork breast size is a matter of taste. We don’t all have to like the same type of women, the same way that not every woman likes the same type of man.
"Minister Boroianu personally finds it too sexy because the breasts are too large. I don't think that the breasts are too small, and I don't think that they are too large. I think they are just right."
Tatarescu, who was born in the city in 1889, and after studying art in Belgium, married the man who was to become prime minister, Gheorghe Tatarescu.
Known for her beauty and refinement, she is rarely pictured wearing anything less demure than a starched blazer and knee-length skirt.