![]() Various artists and historians proposed how these parts might be assembled to form the complete statue, with some debate as to whether the stone pillars with heads on top were connected with the Venus statue. A proposed restoration of the Venus de Milo (1916) by Adolf Furtwängler incorporating the arm fragments found with the statue at the time of its discovery. He later found a hand holding an apple, two herms - square stone pillars with a carved head on top - and a further fragment of an upper arm. The fact of her missing arms prompted the local Milos farmer to continue to dig. The three main pieces that were recovered from Milos - the nude upper torso, a draped lower body, and a section of the right hip - seemed to fit together without controversy. The Venus de Milo was originally found in several pieces, making her exact original form a matter of conjecture. It is this eroticism that provides the basis for the most likely identification of the statue as Venus, the goddess of Love - the Roman counterpart to Aphrodite. The second aspect is the low waistline of the robe, which appears to be almost slipping off her hips, giving the sculpture more than a hint of eroticism. Look again at the statue and let your eyes explore the shape of the form suggested by the beautifully modelled drapery of her robe. In the case of the Venus de Milo, the twist of the hips and the kink in the left leg are unusually pronounced. This is what gives the whole statue its natural “S-curve”. The first is the extreme contrapposto posture, which describes the way the figure’s weight is shifted onto one standing leg. Two distinct features of the Venus de Milo give the sculpture its memorable and inimitable charge. An extreme posture Venus de Milo (Between 150 and 125 BC ) attributed to Alexandros of Antioch. The statue came to France in 1821 and was given to King Louis XVIII, who gave it to the Louvre Museum, and there it remains today. The Frenchman felt certain that the sculpture was important and convinced his local vice-consul to buy it. Going ashore to hunt for antiquities near an old theatre, he noticed the local farmer Kentrotas had found something interesting. Its journey to the museum in Paris began when a French naval officer named Olivier Voutier anchored his ship in the harbour at Milos. But as the years passed, more evidence was uncovered, namely an inscription found on a fragment of the plinth giving the name of Alexandros of Antioch - which was lost shortly after its arrival at the Louvre in 1821. Moreover, unbeknownst to those who first saw her, she had lost her original decorative colouration - since the sculpture was probably painted in vivid colours and adorned with jewellery as was the custom at the time.įor many years, it was believed to have been created by the great Greek sculptor Praxiteles. The statue was considerably damaged: split into several parts with its arms missing and a fractured plinth. Removing some of the stones, he found this antique treasure within its depths. Then, in the spring of 1820, a farmer by the name of Yorgos Kentrotas was roaming the rugged countryside in search of stones to use as building materials, when he stumbled upon a sealed chamber in a wall. The circumstance of the sculpture’s original creation is a mystery, but it is known that at some point it found itself interred in a small cavern or niche on the Greek island of Milos and left for hundreds of years. Sometimes known also as Aphrodite of Milos, the Venus de Milo was carved in marble sometime between 150 and 125 BC. ![]() Louvre Museum, Paris, France An unexpected discovery Venus de Milo (Between 150 and 125 BC ) attributed to Alexandros of Antioch. Carved in marble, partially nude, and wearing an inscrutable expression on her face - perhaps one of confidence - her story is a remarkable one. The story of the statue’s discovery is shrouded in romantic mystique, and historians can only speculate on how she might have looked in her original form.Īnd yet the Venus de Milo continues to engross those who spend time looking at her. The Venus de Milo has the incongruous distinction of being one of the most well-known objects in art and yet it remains an enigma. The unexpected discovery of one of the most famous statues in history Venus de Milo (Between 150 and 125 BC ) attributed to Alexandros of Antioch.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |