The Birth of Venus by the Italian artist Botticelli is one of the world’s most celebrated artworks.
The central image of Venus standing in a shell has been recreated countless times in films, pop videos and commercials.
Bond creator Sir Ian Fleming namechecked the painting when he described the character Honey Ryder in Dr No.
Ms Ryder, unforgettably played by Ursula Andress in the 1962 film, emerges from the waves holding conch shells. And 26 years later, Uma Thurman went one further by replicating the moment the goddess stepped out from the shell in the film The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen.
But now a university has slapped a trigger warning on the painting in case students find the nudity on display offensive.
The University of Roehampton warned undergraduates taking a module on medieval and Renaissance gods and heroes that they will encounter ‘some images of nudity’, including in Botticelli’s painting.
Last night, astonished Monty Python star Terry Gilliam, who directed Thurman in the Munchausen film, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘All I can say is, what utter pathetic b******s!’
Flabbergasted art experts and academics accused the university of ‘artistic illiteracy’.
Michael Daley, director of campaign group Artwatch UK, said: ‘This is preposterous and pernicious. What kind of young adult university student might not be expecting to encounter nude figures in Western classical art?’
At the University of Kent, Frank Furedi, emeritus professor of sociology, said: ‘If you imagine that the nudity in Middle Age and Renaissance art requires a content warning then no doubt you will find the sight of a can of beans triggering.
‘One of the downsides of this exercise in artistic illiteracy is that it may distract students from fully engaging with the unique aesthetic experience of Renaissance art.’
The warning, a copy of which has been obtained by this newspaper under Freedom of Information laws, is issued to English literature students at the start of a seminar that explores depictions of Venus, the Roman goddess of love, sex and fertility.
It states: ‘The first half of this session will contain some images on nudity from the start.’
The warning applies to the Birth Of Venus and to another painting by Botticelli called Primavera.
The Birth Of Venus dates to the 1480s and is in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. It depicts Venus arriving on the shore of Cyprus after her birth, emerging from the sea fully grown.
The singers Beyonce and Lady Gaga are among the entertainers who have referenced the artwork in photoshoots and pop videos.
Historian and professor Jeremy Black said: ‘The body and the mind are central topics and means across the arts. To restrict or deter any consideration and assessment of either by means of a thicket of warnings is wrong as well as unhelpful.’
The same university is also warning students that other parts of the module ‘deal with sensitive subjects’ such as rape and suicide.
A spokesman said: ‘The University of Roehampton provides insight into course content prior to students accessing it as part of good practice and common courtesy, and to provide our students with freedom of choice.’