LONDON.- Transport for London decided to allow the Lucas Cranach the Elder painting publicizing a coming exhibition of Cranach's work at the Royal Academy to be shown all over the Tube. It had previously banned the work depicting Venus stating it would only display the image if the bottom half was cropped out. This painting is one of the 70 works that will be on view at the Royal Academy of Arts on March 8 in London.

Academy spokeswoman Jennifer Francis said, “I think it is because she's totally nude as opposed to say she's topless. We're shocked. We wouldn't have put a poster design forward if we thought it was offensive."

Jennifer Francis stated that the "Venus" was chosen because it best represents Cranach's work, but the academy was uncomfortable altering the artist's work by cropping it. Jennifer Francis stated, "We actually thought it was quite an innocent painting."