![]() He apparently based these assertions on an article he had read in the Century Magazine. Paul Carus gave the site of discovery as "the ruins of an ancient theater in the vicinity of Castro, the capital of the island", adding that Bottonis and his son "came accidentally across a small cave, carefully covered with a heavy slab and concealed, which contained a fine marble statue in two pieces, together with several other marble fragments. Įlsewhere, the discoverers are identified as the Greeks Yorgos Bottonis and his son Antonio. This ancient city is the current village of Trypiti, on the island of Milos (also called Melos, or Milo) in the Aegean, which was then a part of the Ottoman Empire. It is generally asserted that the Venus de Milo was discovered on 8 April 1820 by a Greek farmer named Yorgos Kentrotas, inside a buried niche within the ancient city ruins of Milos. Site of the discovery of the Venus de Milo ![]() The statue is missing both arms, with part of one arm, as well as the original plinth, being lost after the statue's rediscovery. Made of Parian marble, the statue is larger than life size, standing 204 cm (6 ft 8 in) high. ![]() The work was originally attributed to the 4th century Athenian sculptor Praxiteles, but, based upon an inscription on its plinth, it is now widely agreed that the statue was created later, and instead is the work of Alexandros of Antioch. Some scholars theorize that the statue actually represents the sea-goddess Amphitrite, who was venerated on the island in which the statue was found. The sculpture is sometimes called the Aphrodite de Milos, due to the imprecision of naming the Greek sculpture after a Roman deity (Venus). The Venus de Milo is believed to depict Aphrodite the Greek goddess of love, whose Roman counterpart was Venus. It is one of the most famous works of ancient Greek sculpture, having been prominently displayed at the Louvre Museum since shortly after the statue was rediscovered on the island of Milos, Greece, in 1820. The Venus de Milo ( / d ə ˈ m aɪ l oʊ, d ə ˈ m iː l oʊ/ Greek: Αφροδίτη της Μήλου, romanized: Afrodíti tis Mílou) is an ancient Greek sculpture that was created during the Hellenistic period, sometime between 150 and 125 BC. The Ottomans and French Admiral Jules Dumont d’Urville made competing offers for the priceless antiquity, which resulted in the delay of the transfer of the statue to France.For other uses, see Venus de Milo (disambiguation). Other parties then entered the negotiations, making procedures more complicated. The initial price offered was 400 piasters, known in Greece at the time as grosi (γρόσι), the currency used by the Ottoman Empire until 1844. The French began official negotiations for purchasing the Aphrodite of Milo statue soon after its discovery. The missing arms of the statue were, oddly enough, never located. He had studied archaeology, so when he saw the discovery, he realized the immense value of the statue and informed his compatriots that he did not have enough money to purchase it.Īlong with the Aphrodite statue, the French discovered two dedicatory plaques and a base plinth with an inscription of the name of the sculptor. ![]() The fragments of the sculpture were moved to Kentrotas’ sheepfold while the French had already begun to communicate with consuls and ambassadors of their homelands in the cities of Constantinople and Smyrna.įrench naval officer Olivier Voutier was in charge of the excavations for antiquities on the island of Milos. Beauty pageants, in particular, propel the convention of judgement based on appearance. Modern society places a high value on physical appearance, and beauty has become a factor in determining worth. Women who resembled ancient Greek statues were considered to be exceptionally beautiful. However, the corset, which was still in fashion, caused women to take that hourglass body shape to the extreme by cinching in their waists to an incredibly small size.Īdditionally, the Venus de Milo’s features, especially her nose, mirrored 19th century beauty standards. Yet, in so many ways, and for many artists, the perfect harmony in body proportions and facial features has shaped the idea of female beauty since the accidental discovery of the marble statue by a farmer.Īccording to experts, the Venus de Milo inspired women of the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries to aspire to an unrealistic ideal of beauty.ĭuring that period, a curvy shape inspired by the statue came into vogue. How the Venus de Milo inspired beauty standards
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