Manchester Art Gallery has sparked a huge debate after removing a pre-Raphaelite inspired masterpiece depicting naked water nymphs seducing a man.

Hylas and the Nymphs, painted by John William Waterhouse in 1896 is an iconic Victorian painting, but its erotic content - combined with the rise of the #Metoo movement and the recent expose of the President's Club - has prompted curators to take the artwork down.

A statement on the gallery's website said they removed the painting "to prompt conversation about how we display and interpret artworks in Manchester’s public collection".

"This gallery presents the female body as either a ‘passive decorative form’ or a ‘femme fatale’. Let’s challenge this Victorian fantasy!"

Responses to the curator's gesture has been varied. "A dangerous precedent is set for other artworks," warned one concerned reader, while another criticised the "po-faced, politically-correct virtue-signalling."

In response to these concerns, Claire Gannaway of Manchester Art Gallery stressed that this was not about censorship, but about "outdated and damaging stories this whole part of the gallery is still telling through the contextualising and interpretation of collection displays".

Writing on the gallery's website, Claire adds: "The area of the gallery which included Hylas and the Nymphs hasn’t changed for a VERY long time and still tells a very particular story about the bodies on display.

"We think that we can do better than this and the taking down of the painting is a playful way to open up a discussion about this whole gallery, the collection and the way that artworks speak to us through the way they are interpreted and put into context."

"We’d like this gallery to tell a different story in 2018, rather than being about the ‘Pursuit of Beauty’ with a binary tale about how women are either femmes fatale or passive bodies for male consumption. Shouldn’t we be challenging this instead of perpetuating views which result in things like the President’s Club being able to exist? The gallery doesn’t exist in a bubble and these things are connected, surely?"

"The gallery’s themes need addressing and challenging. That’s kind of the point and it’s amazing it hasn’t been done sooner, really."

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Hylas and the Nymphs was taken down on January 26, leaving a blank space where visitors are encouraged to leave post-it notes with their thoughts on the act.

The removal was filmed and will be shown as part of an exhibition by Sonia Boyc e, which is set to launch on March 23 this year.