![]() ![]() The controversy over the statue's origins, moreover, speaks loudly to the notions of beauty that were held by nineteenth century European society. Aphrodite was the Greek goddess of love and sexual desire the apple that she likely contemplated, as Gregory Curtis (2003) suggests, is the very symbol of her physical perfection. The Venus's long-term European and North American associations with beauty are hardly accidental. The apple was both a reference to the apple-shaped island of Milos, whose name derives from the Greek for "apple," and to the myth of Aphrodite, who was judged by Paris to be the most beautiful of three goddesses and received in reward a golden apple. Evidence suggests that the Venus once occupied a niche in the wall of a gymnasium one hand most likely held the drapery about her waist, while the other held an apple out in front of her for contemplation. The base disappeared from the Louvre during the initial reconstruction process and was never seen by the public.īy the 1950s, Alexandros had been widely accepted as the Venus's sculptor the statue is now believed to date from roughly 80 bce. Although this piece fit perfectly with the pedestal of the Venus de Milo, the director of the Louvre and other scholars argued that it could not possibly be part of the statue. Alexandros, according to the inscription, came from the city of Antioch, which had not been founded until 270 bce, well after the end of the Classical period. The most damning evidence that the Venus de Milo was not of the Classical period was a detached segment of the base that attributed the statue to a sculptor named Alexandros. National pride caused many French scholars to argue-against all evidence-that the statue dated from the Classical era, which was considered the apex of Greek art, while others insisted that the statue had been carved much later. The Venus de Milo's 1821 arrival in Paris sparked a scholarly controversy that raged for almost a century. The name Venus de Milo comes from Venus, the Roman name for Aphrodite, and Milos, the Greek island where the statue was discovered in 1820 and purchased for the French government. The Venus de Milo is perhaps one of the best-known works of art in the world in popular culture, frequent reference is made both to her beauty and-often humorously-to her armlessness. (Also missing now is the metal jewelry scholars say decorated the statue’s arms, head and ears in ancient times, as well as the colored paint on its face, hair and drapery.) Speculation remains about the Venus de Milo’s original pose, although evidence suggests its once held an apple in its left hand.The Venus de Milo is an ancient Greek statue of the goddess Aphrodite, famous both for her missing arms and as a symbol of female beauty. But, in fact, most scholars today believe the sculpture’s arms already were missing when it was found by Voutier and the farmer. Originally carved in two blocks of marble then fitted together, the statue stands 6 feet 7 inches from head to toe and is the creation of an artist named Alexandros of Antioch, about whom little is known.Īs for the Venus de Milo’s missing limbs, there long have been claims they were broken off in 1820 during a fight on the shore of Melos, as French and Turkish sailors vied for possession of the artwork. Now, however, the Venus de Milo is thought to have been produced around 100 B.C., during a later period known as the Hellenistic age. The Louvre initially promoted the Venus de Milo as a masterpiece from the Greek classical era. ![]() It arrived in France in 1821 and was presented to Louis XVIII, who donated it to the Louvre Museum, where it remains today. Voutier told his superiors about the discovery and the French acquired the artwork, which came to be known as the Venus de Milo, for a relatively modest sum. Recognizing the statue as potentially significant, the Frenchman, with the farmer’s help, unearthed its lower half not far away. Upon investigating, Voutier learned the farmer had located the top half of a statue of a woman. ![]() While digging near the ruins of an ancient theater, Voutier noticed that a local farmer, who’d been removing stones from a nearby wall for use as building materials, seemed to have found something inside the wall. An ensign in the French navy, Olivier Voutier, whose ship was anchored in the harbor at Melos, decided to kill time one day by going ashore and searching for antiquities. The artwork was discovered in 1820 on the Aegean island of Melos (also called Milos). One of the most famous examples of ancient Greek sculpture, the Venus de Milo is immediately recognizable by its missing arms and popularly believed to represent Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty, who was known to the Romans as Venus. ![]()
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