Venus Di Milo, Stone Sculpture, Handmade, Greece.
Venus Di Milo, Stone Sculpture, Handmade, Greece.
The statue is generally accepted to be a representation of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty (the goddess’s Roman counterpart is Venus). Carved sometime between 130 and 100 BC, it is thought to be the work of a relatively unknown ancient Greek artist Alexandros of Antioch. Little is known of this man, but he may also have carved a statue of Alexander the Great also in the Louvre, originally from a nearby island.
On 8 April 1820, a farmer uncovered a number of carved fragments while he was removing stones from an ancient wall. The pieces included a nude upper torso, a draped lower body, and part of the right hip. Later, he found a hand holding an apple, a fragment of an upper arm, the chignon (the knot of hair at the back of the head), as well as two terms on inscribed bases.
At this time, Milos was under the Ottoman rule, with a heavy French presence in the Aegean. Two ensigns in the French Navy, Olivier Voutier, and Dumont d’Urville were the first foreigners to see the fragments. Immediately they appreciated its significance and set off for Constantinople and the French Ambassador so that they could buy the statue. With the necessary permissions and resources cleared, Voutier and the Ambassador’s secretary returned to Milos to acquire the statue for the Ambassador on behalf of the King of France.
Item Code - STO4E669LAZ
Width: 2 3/4" Height: 9 5/8" Depth: 3" Weight: 658 g
