That would be at least 170 years before Alexandros carved his goddess, leading some to speculate thatboth statues are actually replicas of an older statue. She could be a copy.Īrt historians have noted that Venus de Milo bears a striking resemblance to Aphrodite of Capua, which is a Roman era copy of a possibly late 4th century BCE bronze Greek original. She's taller than most people.Įven with her slight slouch, Venus de Milo stands at 6 feet 8 inches tall. However, no trace of the original paint scheme remains on Venus de Milo today. While it’s easy for today’s art admirers to think of Greek statues as white, the marble was often painted in the style of polychromy. These flourishes are long lost, but the holes for fixing them to the piece remain in the marble, giving clues to the missing accessories. She was originally draped in jewelry including a bracelet, earrings and a headband. Venus is missing more than just her arms. She went into hiding during World War II.īy the autumn of 1939, war threatened to descend on Paris, so Venus de Milo along with some other priceless pieces, such as Winged Victory of Samothrace and Michelangelo's Slaves, were whisked away for safekeeping at various châteaux in the French countryside. Perhaps the most famous of Venus de Milo's detractors, the celebrated Impressionist painter dismissed this delicate depiction of grace and female beauty as "a big gendarme." 10. The ploy worked, and the piece was met with almost universal praise from artists and critics. As such, Venus de Milo was promoted as being even greater than Venus de' Medici upon her Louvre debut. In 1815, the French government returned that beloved sculpture, but in 1820, France embraced the chance to fill the hole its absence left in the French culture and national pride. Venus de Milo was meant to make up for a national embarrassment.ĭuring his conquests, Napoleon Bonaparte had plundered one of the finest examples of Greek sculpture, Venus de' Medici, from Italy. To save face and better promote Venus de Milo-even at the cost of misinforming the public-the plinth was removed before it was presented to the King. This attribution would have placed the piece in the Classical period (5th through 4th centuries BCE), which was more respected artistically than the Hellenistic period. Sightunseen, early 19th century art historians decided the newly discovered Venus must have been the work of Greek artist Praxiteles, and publicized the work as such. The original plinth was ditched on purpose. Modern art historians believe that the variation of finish does not mean those arms did not belong to Venus, but both the arms and the original plinth have been lost since the piece moved to Paris in 1820. Kentrotas did find fragments of an arm and a handwhen he uncovered the statue in the ruins, but as Venus de Milo was being reassembled, those arms were discarded for having a "rougher" appearance. The loss of her limbs is the fault of the French. In turn, the ruler gave the statue to the Louvre, where it is on display to this very day. When Kentrotas called upon a French naval officer to help him unearth the spectacular sculpture, he began a chain of events that would eventually lead to the Marquis de Rivière presenting Venus de Milo to Louis XVIII. To this day, it's a matter of passionate debate. If she held an apple-as some reports claim-it could mean she was Aphrodite, holding the award given to her by Paris before the Trojan War began. A spear could have meant one thing, a spool of thread another. With her arms long missing, would-be context clues have been lost for centuries. Still others have proposed she's Victory, or perhaps a prostitute. Some have suggested the sculpture is not Aphrodite/Venus, but Amphitrite, the sea goddess who was particularly adored on Milos. The inscription on the plinth-the slab on which the statue rested-that identified him as Venus de Milo's creator was lost nearly 200 years ago. Alexandros of Antioch is credited with her creation.Ī sculptor of the Hellenistic period, Alexandros is believed to have carved this masterpiece between 130 and 100 BCE. On April 8, 1820, a farmer named Yorgos Kentrotas came across the statue in pieces within the ruins of an ancient city on the island of Milos (formerly known as Melos). She's named in part for where she was discovered. Nonetheless, the Roman-inspired Venus de Milo caught on. However, the Greeks would have called this deity Aphrodite. It's popularly believed that this Grecian statue depicts the Greek Goddess of love and beauty, who was often rendered half-naked. Venus de Milo's title is a bit misleading. But there's much more to this iconic statue than a couple of absent appendages. For much of the world, the mystery of the Venus de Milo lies in her missing arms.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |