Venus de Milo- the common name for the Greek marble statue of the goddess Aphrodite (mid. 2nd century BC), found on about. Milos (Melos) in 1820. The work, belonging to the period of late Hellenism, is so majestic in style that it resembles sculpture of the classical period. Next to the figure of Aphrodite, there was a herm, on which the hand of the goddess rested, on the base of the herm the name of the sculptor was carved: Alexander (or Agesander) from Antioch on Meander. By the nature of the inscription, the statue can be dated to 150-100 BC.

The goddess is presented in regal, majestic peace. The naked torso of Venus shines with sublime, noble beauty; the fluid, moving folds of the veil falling to the ground make her movement more lively and natural. Venus de Milo became the object of enthusiastic worship of artists (both romantics and masters classicism) and art lovers. A. A. Fet dedicated a poem to her:

VENUS de Milo
And chaste and bold,
Up to the loins shining with nakedness,
Blooming divine body
Unfading beauty.
Under this canopy whimsical
Slightly raised hair
How much bliss is proud
Spilled in the heavenly face!
So, all breathing pathos passion,
All dazzling with sea foam
And all-conquering power,
You look into eternity before you.

Writer G. I. Uspensky - the story "".

The name “Venus-Aphrodite” is associated with us with the image of the beautiful goddess sung in ancient Greek legends, personifying the highest ideal of beauty ... She, generated by the stormy sea element, steps on the desert coast of Cythera, and every step she takes gives life to beautiful herbs and plants ... Wherever Venus appeared, bowed before her beauty. And not only people, even the gods could not resist its perfection.

Aphrodite is tall, slender, her facial features are the embodiment of tenderness and warmth. soft wave blonde hair a crown covers her beautiful head, illuminating everything around with a golden radiance. She represents beauty and eternal youth. When she radiates her splendor, she walks the earth, the sun begins to shine brighter, the streams murmur louder, and the flowers are more fragrant. All wild animals from the dark forest thickets run to her, the birds hover around her, cheerfully performing their cheerful trills. Panthers, lions, bears, leopards become meek in her presence, wanting her to caress them. Aphrodite walks confidently, shining with her dazzling beauty, and wild animals obediently part to let her through. Charites and Horas, her constant companions, choose the most luxurious outfits for the goddess, carefully comb her golden hair, put a sparkling diadem on her head.

Venus gave the world love, penetrating everyone and everything around, before which not only mortals fell, but also the gods.

Venus, the goddess of beauty and love, is embodied in a huge number of statues, but each interprets her character in her own way.

The most famous ancient statues of Venus are seven. From right to left: Milo (II-I centuries BC, Paris); Capitoline (II century, Rome); Cnidus (4th century BC, the original has not been preserved); Medicean (I century BC, Florence); Capua (IV century BC, Naples); Venus Mazarin (II century, Los Angeles); Venus the Lucky (II century, Rome). Image courtesy of the US Library of Congress.

The most famous image of Aphrodite is in the Louvre, this is the famous Venus de Milo. The proportions of the Venus de Milo are 86x69x93 with a height of 164 (in terms of a height of 175, the proportions are 93x74x99).

It was discovered quite by accident.

The ruins of the ancient Greek theater on the island of Milos. This is the very theater near which the Kentrotas discovered the statue of Venus.

Sometime in the summer of 1820, the Greek Yorgos Kentrotas (Γεώργιος Κεντρωτάς) from the town of Kastro, on the island of Milos, together with his son Theodoras (Θεόδωρος Κεντρωτάς) and his nephew, worked in his field ... Their site was half a mile from the ruins of the ancient theater slope, which was crossed by some ancient wall, built of raw stones. It formed, as it were, the border of the field, which hung over the terrace over the descent. On that day, the industrious Greeks were digging something right next to it. And suddenly the ground began to crumble under them. A moment later, the whole company almost fell into the ground. When the fright passed, curious peasants began to take turns looking into the resulting hole, but in the darkness they could not really see anything, making sure that there was a rather large cavity under them.

Then Yorgos ordered his son and nephew to run home for a lantern, a rope and some tool. When they brought everything that was required, Yorgos lowered a lit lantern into the hole and, by its light, examined the walls of a certain underground room, on the vaulted roof of which he stood. As the strongest, he remained at the top, insuring, and the young people, having lowered another rope into the failure, climbed into the dungeon. So they ended up in an ancient crypt adjacent to the same wall, the upper edge of which protruded to the surface, crossing their site. Looking around, Theodoras and his cousin saw in a niche in the wall a beautiful statue of Venus made of white marble. “The clothes that covered her only to the hips and fell to the floor in wide folds, she held with her right hand. The left one was slightly raised and curved - in it she held a ball the size of an apple, ”so they will later describe their find.

The islanders knew absolutely nothing about art, but they knew that foreigners were willing to buy antiques, so there would definitely be people willing to pay good money for their discovery. It was impossible to drag away the entire marble beauty - the three of them could not even budge her, and they did not want to call the neighbors for help, wanting to keep the find a secret. Then Yorgos himself carefully examined the statue and found that it was not monolithic, but a team. Having disassembled the figure into smaller fragments, the Greeks dragged the bust and arm into their house, and left the lower part in the crypt, disguising the entrance to it.

Dumont-D'Urville is known to science not only in connection with the history of Venus de Milo. In 1837-1840 he made an expedition to the Antarctic, where the sea is named after him.

In April of the same 1820, the French ship Chevrette entered the harbor of the town of Castro, two officers on which, lieutenants Dumont-Durville (Jules Sébastien César Dumont d "Urville, 1790-1842) and Amable Matterer ), were avid lovers of antiquity. Using the parking lot, they began to go around the courtyards of the Greek inhabitants, wondering if there was anything for sale? So they went to Yorgos, who showed them parts of his find. The officers were delighted, but the price set by the Greek , was disproportionately higher than their financial capabilities.The deal did not take place, but Yorgos promised not to offer the statue to other buyers until the lieutenants collected the required amount.
From Castro, the Chevrett went to Constantinople, where Matre and D'Urville told everything to the French ambassador (Greece then belonged to Turkey). He, in turn, ordered the secretary of the embassy de Marcellus (Marie-Louis-Jean-André-Charles Demartin du Tyrac de Marcellus, 1795-1865) to go to Milos, buy a statue of Venus and ship it to France. The schooner "Estafette" ("Estafette") was transferred to the disposal of de Marcellus. However, preparations for the journey took some time. Therefore, when the ship approached the shores of Milos on May 23, 1820, a Turkish brig was already on the Castro roadstead and work was underway to raise the statue on board. Still, the Kentrotas did not manage to hide their find, and the Turkish authorities found out about it. But how could this happen?
Here another character appears in our story - the French naval officer Olivier Voutier (1796-1877). In his memoirs "Mémoires du colonel Voutier sur la guerre actuelle des Grecs" (1823), he claims that he was personally present on the field of Kentrotas on the day when the mysterious ancient crypt was discovered. Moreover, according to Voutier, he found it, and the peasants only helped him to extract the discovered statue from under the ground. Thus, he unequivocally asserted his right to an invaluable find. However, the Kentrotas themselves did not confirm this information. It is quite possible that Voutier did somehow find out about the discovery of Venus, but, having received Yorgos’ refusal to sell him the ancient relic, he himself “surrendered” it to the Turks, promising the Ottoman captain a share of the amount that he could get from the resale of the statue of the goddess in third hands.
Seeing through a spyglass that a crowd of Turkish sailors and Greeks was dragging something large, white and very heavy, the captain of the Relay did not hesitate: he ordered his sailors to load into boats, go to the shore and forcefully recapture the statue from the Turks.

Fulfilling the order, the landing party attacked the crowd, a fight ensued, from which the French emerged victorious. However, during the fight, Venus herself was thrown to the ground, and she crashed. The sailors of the "Relay" picked up the trophies and dragged the statue to the boats until the Turks returned with reinforcements. There was no time to sort it out in a hurry: the parts lying on the shore were thrown at random into the boat and brought aboard the schooner. But, having examined the prey, the French realized that they got only the upper part of Venus - the lower Turks managed to deliver aboard their brig. (Voutier, probably not wanting to take responsibility for what happened, claims that the statue was already split from the beginning).
Now it's de Marcellus's turn. He went to the Turkish ship and began negotiations with its captain, emphasizing that, they say, the French had a preliminary agreement on the purchase with the owners of the statue. The debate lasted two days, the matter was not without bribes, but in the end the secretary of the embassy fulfilled his order: the Turks returned the missing parts of the statue.

However, the perfection of the ancient goddess cannot be spoiled with beaten hands - against the background of her beautiful image, this flaw is invisible. Suffered in the Turkish-French battle, she will still enchant anyone who admires her. Her slender figure, thin neck, small head, graceful shoulders - literally everything in Venus is fascinating. For more than two centuries, her pure, genuine femininity and beauty has won the hearts of the public.

Venus de Milo belongs to the period of the late classics of ancient Greek art. Majestic posture, smooth divine contours, calm face - these are the features characteristic of works of art of the 4th century. BC. However, some scholars and researchers are more inclined to assert that Venus is two hundred years younger, since the method of processing marble used in sculpture is characteristic of a later period.

In 1896, the French newspaper "Illustration" published an article authored by a certain Marquis de Troghoff. He claimed that his father, who served in the navy in the Mediterranean, saw the whole sculpture - Venus had it in his hands. Later, the French scientist S. Reynac refuted the words of the Marquis.
But nevertheless, both the article written by de Troghof and the subsequent refutation of Reynac further fueled public interest in sculpture. There were many opinions about what exactly the ancient sculptor wanted to convey when creating the statue. So, according to the German professor Hass, the goddess is depicted after bathing. The Swedish researcher Saloman suggested that Venus in this case embodies voluptuousness, she, using her charm, is trying to seduce someone.

It is quite possible that the Venus de Milo is part of some sculptural composition. Perhaps once a couple of the goddess was the god of war Mars. Some scientists speak in favor of this theory, based on the following fact: the position of the shoulder indicates that the left hand of Venus was raised, and with it she leaned on the shoulder of her partner, while her right hand held him left hand.

Over the decades that have passed since the discovery of the statue, they tried to restore the original appearance of Venus more than once, there was even a version that supposedly the goddess originally had wings. However, the ancient beauty keeps her secrets, and, apparently, she will never reveal them.

Now the Venus de Milo is located in room number 74 on the first floor of the Sully Gallery (Pavillon Sully) in the Louvre. 8.5 million people come to see it every year.

One of the most famous examples of ancient Greek sculpture is the marble statue of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty. The sculpture was created in the Hellenistic period, between 130 and 100 BC, but, unfortunately, by the time it was “discovered” in modern history, it was already devoid of hands. Depicted slightly larger than the life size of a man, this work is attributed to Alexandros of Antioch, as evidenced by the now lost inscription on the plinth. The graceful figure of the goddess has fascinated art lovers since its discovery in 1820. The famous sculpture is now on public display in the Louvre collection.

Venus de Milo was discovered on the Greek island of Melos, buried in the ancient ruins of the city of Melos (sometimes Milos).

Characteristics and analysis

The statue is made of Parian marble and has a height of about two meters without a pedestal. The statue is believed to represent the goddess Aphrodite. Venus is her Roman counterpart. Unfortunately, the arms of the sculpture and the original plinth have been lost. This is partly due to the fact that initially, when collecting the surviving fragments of the sculpture, the hands were not attributed to her, as they had a more “rough” appearance. Today, however, experts are sure that despite the difference in decoration, the lost fragments belonged to Venus.

It is believed that initially the statue (like other works of ancient Greek sculpture) was painted with colored pigments, which gave it a realistic appearance, and was also decorated with bracelets, earrings and a wreath.

The Venus de Milo showcases the technical and creative innovations of the period known as Hellenism. The contrast between the smooth naked skin of the heroine and the voluminous texture of the drapery is masterfully emphasized. The sculpture is filled with erotic tension through the drapery, which is about to slip off. These stylistic features give an idea of ​​the period of creation of the sculpture. Overall, the work can be seen as a subtle blend of early and late styles and methods of ancient Greek sculpture.

Unfading beauty

During the 19th century, the Venus de Milo was praised by art critics and experts who gave the sculpture the title of the standard of female beauty.

Updated: September 16, 2017 by: Gleb

What to look at: Venus (or in Greek mythology, Aphrodite), the goddess of love and beauty, is personified by many statues, but how the image embodied in them differs. And the most famous of them is the world-famous Venus de Milo, staged in the Department of Antique Art in the Louvre. One of the "three pillars of the Louvre", which every visitor to the Louvre considers it his duty to see (the other two are Nike of Samothrace and Mona Lisa).

It is believed that its creator is the sculptor Agesander or Alexandros of Antioch (the inscription is illegible). Formerly attributed to Praxiteles. The sculpture is a type of Aphrodite of Cnidus (Venus pudica, Venus bashful): a goddess holding a fallen robe with her hand (for the first time, a sculpture of this type was carved around 350 BC by Praxiteles). It was this Venus that gave the world modern standards of beauty: 90-60-90, because its proportions are 86x69x93 with a height of 164 cm.

Researchers and art historians have long attributed the Venus de Milo to that period of Greek art, which is called "late classics". The majesty of the posture of the goddess, the smoothness of divine contours, the calmness of her face - all this makes her related to the works of the 4th century BC. But some methods of processing marble forced scientists to move the date of execution of this masterpiece two centuries ahead.

Path to the Louvre.
The statue was accidentally discovered on the island of Milos in 1820 by a Greek peasant. She probably spent at least two millennia in underground captivity. The one who placed her there obviously wanted to save her from the impending disaster. (By the way, this was not the last attempt to save the statue. In 1870, fifty years after the Venus de Milo was found, it was again hidden in a dungeon - in the cellar of the Paris police prefecture. The Germans fired on Paris and were close to the capital. Prefecture soon burned down, but fortunately the statue remained intact. Here she was seen by a young French officer, Dumont-Durville. An educated officer, a member of the expedition to the islands of Greece, he immediately appreciated the well-preserved masterpiece. Undoubtedly, it was the Greek goddess of love and beauty Venus. Moreover, she was holding an apple in her hand, handed to her by Paris in the well-known dispute between the three goddesses.

The peasant asked a huge price for his find, but Dumont-D'Urville did not have such money. However, he understood the true value of the sculpture and persuaded the peasant not to sell Venus until he got the right amount. The officer had to go to the French consul in Constantinople to persuade him to buy a statue for the French museum.

But, returning to Milos, Dumont-D'Urville learned that the statue had already been sold to some Turkish official and even packed in a box. For a huge bribe, Dumont-D'Urville bought Venus again. She was urgently placed on a stretcher and taken to the port where a French ship was moored. Literally immediately, the Turks missed the loss. In the ensuing scuffle, Venus passed several times from the French to the Turks and back. During that fight, the marble hands of the goddess suffered. The ship with the statue was forced to urgently sail, and the hands of Venus were left in the port. They have not been found to this day.

But even the ancient goddess, deprived of her arms and covered with gaps, enchants everyone with her perfection so much that you simply don’t notice these flaws and damage. Slightly tilted her small head on a slender neck, one shoulder rose and the other fell, the camp flexed flexibly. The softness and tenderness of the skin of Venus is set off by the drapery that has slipped onto her hips, and now it is impossible to take your eyes off the sculpture, which has conquered the world for almost two centuries with its enchanting beauty and femininity.

Hands of Venus.
When the Venus de Milo was first exhibited in the Louvre, the famous writer Chateaubriand said: "Greece has never given us better evidence of her greatness!" And almost immediately, assumptions began to pour in about the original position of the hands of the ancient goddess.

At the end of 1896, in the French newspaper "Illustration", a message was printed by a certain Marquis de Troghof that his father, who served as an officer in the Mediterranean, saw the statue intact, and that the goddess was holding an apple in her hands.

If she was holding the apple of Paris, how were her hands positioned? True, later the statements of the Marquis were refuted by the French scientist S. Reinac. However, de Troghoff's article and S. Reinac's refutation aroused even more interest in the antique statue. The German professor Hass, for example, claimed that the ancient Greek sculptor depicted the goddess after bathing, when she was about to anoint her body with juice. The Swedish scientist G. Saloman suggested that Venus is the embodiment of voluptuousness: the goddess, using all her charm, leads someone astray.

Or maybe it was a whole sculptural composition, from which only Venus has come down to us? Many researchers supported the version of the Swedish scientist, in particular, Cartmer de Kinsey suggested that Venus was depicted in a group with the god of war Mars. "Because Venus has he wrote, judging by the position of the shoulder, the hand was raised, she probably rested this hand on the shoulder of Mars; put her right hand into his left hand.". In the 19th century, they tried to reconstruct and restore the original appearance of the beautiful Venus, there were even attempts to attach wings to it. But the "completed" sculpture was losing its mystical charm, so it was decided not to restore the statue.

The Louvre really knows how to show masterpieces. Thus, the statue of Venus de Milo is placed in the middle of a small hall, and in front of it stretches a long suite of rooms in which none of the exhibits is placed in the middle. Because of this, as soon as the viewer enters the antique department, he immediately sees only Venus - a low sculpture that appears like a white ghost against a foggy background of gray walls ...

I continue the thematic venereal week, today the classic helps us.

Valentin Pikul
What did Venus hold in her hand?

In April 1820, an ancient wind from the Aegean brought the French brigantine Lachevret to the rocks of Milos. Sleepy Greeks watched from the boats as, having removed the sails, the sailors were poisoning the anchor ropes into the depths. The smell of roses and cinnamon wafted from the shore, and a rooster crowed behind the mountain - in the neighboring village.

Two young officers, Lieutenant Materer and Lieutenant Dumont-Darville, descended on the impoverished ancient land. To begin with, they turned into a Havana tavern; the innkeeper splashed the sailors into glasses of black, like tar, local wine.

“The French,” he asked, “are probably sailing far away?”
"A cargo for the embassy," replied Matherer, tossing an orange peel under the table. - Three more nights, and we will be in Constantinople ...

The church bell rang loudly. Uncomfortable earth covered the mountain slopes. Yes, olive groves were green in the distance.
Poverty .., silence .., wretchedness .., the rooster crowed.

— What's new? Dumont-Darville asked his host, and licked his lips, which had become sticky with wine.
“It has been a quiet year, sir. Only in winter the earth behind the mountain cracked. Just on the arable land of old Castro Buttonis, who almost fell into a crevice with a plow. And what would you think?

Our Buttonis fell right into the arms of the beautiful Venus...
The sailors ordered more wine, asked to fry the fish.

“Come on, master, tell me more about this…”
Castro Butgonis watched from under his arm as two officers walked towards his arable land from afar, the wind from the sea fluttering and crumpling their delicate scarves. But these were not the Turks, whom the Greek peasant was so afraid of, and he calmed down.

“We came to see,” said Lieutenant Matherer, “where did your earth crack here in winter?”
“Oh, gentlemen of the French,” the peasant became agitated, “this is such a misfortune for my modest arable land, this crack in it. And it's all my nephew's fault. He is still young, he has a lot of strength, and so foolishly leaned on the plow ...

“We don’t have time, old man,” Dumont-Darville interrupted him.

Butgonis led them to a depression that gave access to an underground crypt, and the officers deftly jumped down, as if into the hold of a ship. And there, underground, stood a white marble plinth, on which quivering folds of clothes rose along the hips.

But only to the waist - there was no bust.

Venus de Milo (bottom)

- And where is the main thing? shouted Materer from under the ground.
"Come with me, good Frenchmen," the old man offered.

Buttonis led them to his hut. No, he does not want to deceive anyone. He, his son and nephew, managed to drag only the upper part of the statue to him. If only the officers knew how hard it was.

“We carried her carefully across the arable land. And often rested ...

Venus de Milo (top)

In the midst of beggarly squalor, naked to the waist, stood a wonderful woman with a marvelous face, and the officers quickly looked at each other - looks that read millions of francs.

"I'll sell it, buy it," he suggested naively.
Materer, trying not to betray his excitement, poured out of his purse into the shriveled palm of the farmer:

“On the way back to Marseille, we will take the goddess from you.
Buttonis sorted through the coins in his palm.

“But the priest says that Venus beyond the seas is worth more than all our Milos with its vineyards.
- It's just a deposit! said Dumont-Darville. - We promise to return and bring money no matter how much you ask ...

Blew out in the evening strong wind, but Materer did not take sail to the saving reefs. Cutting off shreds of foam with a bulwark, Lachevret flew into the harbor of Constantinople, and two officers appeared on the threshold of the embassy. The Marquis de Riviere, a passionate admirer of everything antique, barely had time to hear them out about the unprecedented find - he immediately pulled the bell sonnet, calling the secretary.

Relief on the monument to Dumont-Darville, 1844

“Marsulles,” he announced solemnly, “in half an hour you will be at sea.” Here is a letter to the captain of the embassy "Relay", who will obey you until Venus from the island of Miloe appears before us. In money and bullets, I advise you not to be stingy ... Wind and good luck to you!

Lachevret, under the command of Materer, never returned to his native Marseille, disappearing without a trace. And the military schooner of the French embassy "Relay" in full sail rushed towards Milos. In the middle of the night, the island shimmered with a point of distant fire. None of the team slept. Marsulles had already loaded the pistol with a bullet and the purse with a good dose of pure gold.

The ancient world, beautifully strict, arousing the enthusiasm of people, gradually revealed its secrets, and on the schooner everyone - from the cabin boy to the diplomat - understood that this night would pay off later with the gratitude of posterity.

Marsulles, nervously, took a sip of cognac from the captain's flask.

“Let’s go straight ahead,” he said, “so as not to trudge on foot from the village to the harbor ... Do you see the fire shining in the hut?
- I see clearly! replied the captain, no longer looking at the compass card; the shore, shining under the moon with sharp stones, sharply protruded in the white edging of the surf ...
- I see people! the watch officer suddenly called out from the forecastle. - They are dragging something .., white-white. And a ship! Like God's day, I see a Turkish ship right on the bow .., with guns!

The French are late. A huge military felucca was already standing in the bay. And along the shore, illuminated by moonlight, Turkish soldiers wandered under the weight of marble. And between them, hanging on the ropes, swayed the Venus de Milo.

“France will not forgive us,” Marsulles gasped in anger.
- But what to do? said the captain.
- Landing on whaleboats! the secretary of the embassy said. - Live cartridges - in guns, on oars - two people each ... Dear captain, just in case - goodbye!

The sailors rowed with such fury that the ash oars bent into an arc. The Turks raised an uproar. They threw Venus off the ropes. And, in order to get ahead of the French, they rolled her down the slope, mercilessly disfiguring the body of the goddess.

- A barrel of wine! shouted Marsulles to the sailors. “Just row, row, row ... in the name of France!”
He fired into the darkness. Pistols crackled in response.
Bowing their bayonets, the French landing force rushed forward, but retreated before the fierce glare of naked scimitars.

Venus jumped over the potholes - right into the bottom of the harbor.
- What are you standing for? shouted Marsulles. - Two barrels of wine. Honor and glory of France - forward!

The sailors in a bloody battle found for France the upper part of Venus - the most desirable for the eyes. The goddess lay on her back, and the white hills of her chest serenely reflected the radiance of inaccessible stars. And shots rang out around her ...

Three barrels of wine! - Marsulles called for a feat.
But the Turks had already rolled the base onto their longboat and, opening aimed fire, quickly raked towards the felucca. And the French remained standing on black coastal stones, among which splinters of Parian marble shone.

“Pick up all the pieces,” Marsulles ordered. - Every speck of nobility ... Eternity of the world - in these debris!
The bust of the goddess was loaded onto the ship, and the "Relay" began to overtake the Turkish sailboat. A cannon poked out over the side.

“Give us her head back,” the Turks shouted angrily.
"You'd better give us her ass," answered the French.

The gunner pressed the fuse to the fuse, and the first shot caught up with the Turkish felucca with a quiet rustle. Marsulles grabbed his whiskey.
- You're crazy! If we sink them now, the world will never see the beauty in its entirety ... Oh my God, we will be cursed for centuries and they will be right ...

The Turks with martial songs pulled the tattered sails. Marsulles ran down the gangplank to the wardroom, where the goddess rested on a sofa.

- Arms? he shouted in despair. Who saw her hands?
No, none of the landing party noticed the hands of Venus on the shore ...

Diplomatic complications began (because of the hands).
“But the Turks,” said the Marquis de Riviere, annoyed, “also deny the presence of hands ... Where did the hands go?

The Sultan of Turkey never resisted the influence of French gold, and therefore the lower part of the goddess was given to them at the disposal of France. Of the two halves, separated by enmity and envy, the Venus of Milos appeared intact (but without hands). The marble beauty soon sailed to Paris - the Marquis de Riviere brought her as a gift to King Louis XVIII, who was frightened and confused by such a gift.

“Hide, hide Venus as soon as possible!” said the king. “Ah, that worthless marquis. It's about time he knew that stolen things are not given to kings!
Louis carefully concealed from the world the theft of the statue from Milos, but the secret penetrated the press, and the king had no choice but to put Venus in the Louvre - for all to see.
So, in 1821, Venus de Milo appeared before the eyes of people - in all its beauty.

Archaeologists and connoisseurs of the elegant immediately began to rack their brains in painful riddles. Who is the author? What era? Just look at this strong nose, at the interpretation of the corners of the lips; what a tiny and cute chin.
A - neck, neck, neck ...
Praxiteles? Phidias? Scopas?
After all, this is for sure a sample of Hellenistic beauty!

But an unanswerable question immediately arose:
What was Venus holding in her hand?
And this dispute dragged on for half a century.

“Venus was holding a shield in her hands, placed right in front of her,” said some historians.
- Nonsense! - objected to them. With one hand she shyly covered her bosom, and the other hand carried a warlike spear.
“You didn’t understand anything, layman,” a third voice sounded, no less authoritative. - Venus held a large mirror in front of her, in which she looked at her beauty.
“Oh, how wrong you are, dear maestro! Venus from Milos has already left the era when its paraphernalia was a round object. No, she makes a repulsive gesture of modesty!

Venus of Capua (with arms)

- My amphitryon, you yourself do not understand the clue to the hands. Rather, the creator himself, in a fit of discontent, wished to destroy his creation. He beat off her hands, and then .., regretted it.

Yes, indeed, what did Venus finally hold in her hand, found on the island of Miloye by a Greek peasant named Castro Buttonis? ..

The Louvre attracted people. Everyone admired. But to subject the goddess to restoration was nothing to think of, because the main question has not been clarified: hands! And armless Venus stood under the gaze of thousands of people, all in charming beauty, and no one could unravel her secrets ...

Spindle Reconstruction Option

Half a century has passed. Jules Ferry, the French consul in Greece, sailed in 1872 to the island of Miloe. The scent of roses and cinnamon wafted from the shore in the same way, and the innkeeper splashed him thick black wine in the same way.

- Is it far from the village? Ferry asked, twirling the glass in sticky fingers.
— No, sir. Just over the mountain, you will see for yourself ...

Ferry knocked on the door of a dilapidated shack that had fallen apart in the past 52 years. The door creaked softly.
Before the consul stood the son of Castro Buttonis, and on the bench lay his nephew, decrepit, like his brother.
Poverty struck Ferry with the smell of onion stew and cakes burnt in the ashes. No, nothing has changed here...

Do you remember Venus well? Ferry asked the peasants.
Four earthy hands reached out to him:
“Sir, we were still very young then, and we carefully carried her from the arable land itself ... Oh, now we can’t carry ourselves so carefully!

Ferry aimed his gaze at the empty hearth of the poor.
- Okay. And who among you can remember what Venus held in her hand?
“We both remember well,” the peasants nodded in response.
"So what... what?"
Our beauty had an apple in her hand.

Ferry was struck by the simplicity of the solution. Didn't even believe it.
- Is it an apple?
— Yes, sir, just an apple.
What was her other hand holding? Or have you forgotten?

Reconstruction variant with an apple

The old men looked at each other.
“Sir,” answered one of the Buttonis, “we cannot vouch for other Venuses, but ours, from the island of Miloe, was a chaste woman. And rest easy: her other handle wasn't dangling around either.
Jules Ferry, quite pleased, lifted his top hat.
- I wish you health…

He left the hut. He took in a breath of fresh air.
Climbing the mountain seemed easy, like in childhood. So everything seems clear...
- Good sir! came a rattling voice behind him: it was Buttonis son, leaning on a stick, hobbled after him. - Please stop...

Ferry waited for him to approach.
“Don’t blame me on the request,” the old man said, looking down at the ground. “But the priest says that our Venus has become a very rich lady. And now he lives in the palace of the king, which we never dreamed of. It was we who discovered its beauty, picking in the dirty earth, and since then we have been poor, as then .., even in our youth. But with these hands...
Ferry hurriedly handed the old man a coin.
- Enough? he asked mockingly.
And, no longer looking back, the diplomat hurriedly walked towards the near sea. Like half a century ago, the rooster crowed loudly behind the mountain ...

With god Ares, lover

Many years have passed since then. And to this day, archaeologists are digging the land of Miloye Island - in the hope of finding, among other treasures, the lost hands of Venus.

... Not so long ago, a message flashed in our press that a Brazilian millionaire bought the hands of Venus de Milo for $ 35,000 - Only hands! When selling, they took a receipt from him that he must keep silent about his purchase for three years. And for three years the happy owner of the hands of Venus kept the oath.
When the secret of the hands was discovered, archaeologists declared that these hands were anyone else's, but not the Venus de Milo. Simply put, a millionaire was swindled ...

And the world has become so accustomed to the armless Venus from Milos that I sometimes think: maybe she doesn’t need hands? (...)

Venus de Milo

Sculpture is a type Aphrodite of Knidos(Venus pudica, Venus bashful): a goddess holding a fallen robe with her hand (for the first time a sculpture of this type was sculpted by Praxiteles, c. 350 BC). Proportions - 86x69x93 with a height of 164cm

History of the find

The place where the statue was found

Her hands were lost after the discovery, at the time of the conflict between the French, who wanted to take her to their country, and the Turks (owners of the island), who had the same intention.

Dumont-D'Urville immediately realized that the only way to disrupt the deal (and the statue had already been taken to the port to be sent to Istanbul) was to try to outbid Elena. Having learned how much the Turks paid for the find (and he paid literally pennies), Dumont-Durville, with the consent of the diplomat, offered ten times as much. And a few minutes later a crowd of Greek peasants, led by the former owner of Elena, rushed to the port. The Turks were just loading the statue onto a felucca. The peasants demanded that the Turks increase their wages. He of course refused. And then a battle began, in which the French royal fleet did not participate, but was present. As a result of the battle, the statue fell overboard. The epic of lifting it up began. And the fights local importance did not stop, and until the last moment it was not clear who would get this masterpiece. In addition, the bay was deep and rocky. It is not surprising that when the statue was finally raised and recaptured from the Turks, it turned out that she had lost her arms. They were never found. To this day. There is a description of the statue made by Dumont-Durville, which explains why the peasants first called her Elena the Beautiful - from childhood they remembered how Paris gave an apple, and then married Elena. But they forgot that the apple went to the goddess of love Venus.

Classification and location

The statue was acquired in 1821 and is currently stored in a gallery specially prepared for it on the 1st floor of the Louvre. Code: LL 299 (Ma 399).

At the beginning, the statue was attributed to the classical period (510-323 BC). But it turned out that a pedestal was also brought along with the statue, on which it was written that Alexander the son of Menides, a citizen of Antioch on Meander, made this statue. And it turned out that the statue belongs to the Hellenistic period (323-146 BC). Subsequently, the pedestal disappeared and has not yet been found.

Notes

see also

Links

Categories:

• Sculptures in alphabetical order
• Sculptures based on Greek mythology
• Sculptures from the collections of the Louvre
• Sculptures of Ancient Greece
• Sculptures of the 2nd century BC. e.
• Aphrodite

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