42 Fun Facts About Venus De Milo

Which goddess is the Venus de Milo believed to depict?

Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, is the usual identification; Venus is her Roman counterpart, and the bare torso with slipping garment matches her other Hellenistic statues.

Milos, where the Venus de Milo was found, lies in which sea?

The Aegean Sea surrounds Milos, a volcanic island at the south-western edge of the Cyclades, roughly halfway between Athens and Crete.

In which year did the Venus de Milo go on display at the Louvre?

It arrived just as the museum was returning works Napoleon had seized across Europe.

When does the modern consensus place the statue's carving?

It is a Hellenistic work, perhaps made between 160 and 110 BC.

What kind of marble is the Venus de Milo carved from?

Parian marble, the fine-grained white stone quarried on the Cycladic island of Paros, is the material; the sculptor worked it in two main blocks joined at the hips.

How tall is the statue?

Just over 2 metres: the statue measures about 204 cm from plinth to crown, making the goddess slightly larger than life size.

Besides both arms, which parts of the statue are missing?

The left foot and the earlobes are lost, besides both arms; restorers added only the nose tip, the lower lip, one big toe and a few folds of cloth.

What object was found alongside the statue in a separate marble hand?

It led to the identification of the goddess holding the apple of discord; 2010 analysis backed the link.

On what date did a Greek farmer uncover the statue?

8 April 1820 is the date usually given: the farmer was pulling stones from ruins near the ancient theatre when he struck the buried statue, and a young French sailor nearby took notice.

Which French naval officer witnessed the discovery and urged the farmer to keep digging?

Olivier Voutier, a 23-year-old ensign from the French schooner Estafette, was hunting antiquities nearby, saw the farmer's find and encouraged him to dig out the rest; he later fought for Greek independence.

Which French vice-consul on Milos examined the statue soon after its discovery?

Louis Brest, the French vice-consul on Milos, inspected the newly found statue within days and reported it to his superiors, starting the French effort to acquire it.

On which ship was Dumont d'Urville serving when he examined the newly found statue?

The Chevrette, a naval survey vessel charting the eastern Mediterranean, called at the island soon after the discovery; its ensign Dumont d'Urville examined the statue and carried word of it to the embassy at Constantinople.

Who was the French ambassador who agreed to buy the statue?

The Marquis de Rivière, France's ambassador to the Ottoman court, authorised the purchase and sent his secretary, the Comte de Marcellus, to collect the statue; he later presented it to the king.

What had happened by the time Marcellus reached Milos?

It had been sold and loaded onto a ship: a local priest had arranged its sale to a senior Ottoman interpreter, and Marcellus had to have the deal cancelled before taking the statue aboard.

Which French king had the Venus installed in his national museum?

Louis XVIII received the statue from his ambassador to the Ottoman court and passed it to the Louvre, where, on Quatremère de Quincy's advice, it was displayed unrestored rather than given new arms.

Why did Quatremère de Quincy argue against restoring the statue?

A whole Mars figure was missing from the group, Quatremère de Quincy argued: he read the Venus as half of a Venus-and-Mars pair, so any restored arms would be guesswork; restoring antiquities was otherwise routine.

Which honour did Dumont d'Urville receive for his role in acquiring the statue?

Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur was his reward: Dumont d'Urville received the cross, was promoted to lieutenant, and the scientific notes from the voyage brought him to the attention of the Academy of Sciences.

Which sculptor is named on a now-lost inscription found near the statue?

The plinth read '[...]andros, son of Menides, of Antioch on the Maeander'; the link is disputed.

Antioch on the Maeander, named in the lost inscription, lay in which ancient region?

Caria, in south-western Asia Minor, held Antioch on the Maeander, a Seleucid foundation of about 280 BC and the home city of the sculptor named on the lost plinth.

What other talent do inscriptions at Thespiae credit the statue's presumed sculptor with?

Winning contests for composing and singing: a victor list from the Thespian festival in Boeotia records a man of the same name and city taking that prize, so the sculptor may also have been a musician.

Which German scholar first argued in 1893 that the statue was later than scholars thought?

Adolf Furtwängler, in his 1893 Masterpieces of Greek Sculpture, argued from the statue's style and the plinth inscription for a Hellenistic date rather than a Classical one; his son Wilhelm became a celebrated conductor.

When did 19th-century scholars generally think the statue had been made?

The 300s BC was the usual 19th-century dating: the statue was taken for a Classical work of the age of Praxiteles, until its style and the plinth inscription pointed to a later, Hellenistic date.

Which sea goddess did Salomon Reinach propose the statue represents?

Amphitrite, Poseidon's queen, was Reinach's candidate: he paired the statue with the large Poseidon statue later unearthed on the same island, suggesting the two came from one group.

According to a long-repeated legend, how did the statue lose its arms?

In a brawl on the beach between rival claimants, says the legend; in fact the arms were already missing when the statue was unearthed, so the story of a fight is a myth.

What filled the hole below one of the statue's breasts?

A metal tenon supporting the arm once filled the hole below one breast, a fixing point for the separately carved limb and one clue to how that lost arm was positioned.

Which part of the statue is noticeably less finely finished?

The back is rougher and less detailed than the front, a sign the sculptor expected the statue to stand against a wall and be seen from the front only.

On which leg does the Venus de Milo rest her weight?

Right: her weight rests on the right leg, pushing that hip outward, while the left knee bends forward in a relaxed, asymmetric stance.

Which art historian called her 'the last great work of antique Greece'?

Kenneth Clark, the British art historian behind The Nude (1956) and the BBC series Civilisation (1969), gave the Venus de Milo that title in his survey of the ideal figure.

Which earlier statue did the Venus de Milo displace as the popular symbol of beauty?

The Medici one in Florence, the Venus de' Medici, had been the most admired antique nude for two centuries; after its return from Paris in 1815 the new Venus took over its reputation.

Where was the statue sent for safety during the First World War?

Toulouse received the Louvre's most precious works when the German advance threatened Paris; the Venus de Milo was kept in the city's Church of the Jacobins until the war ended.

Where was the Venus hidden during the Second World War?

Château de Valençay, in the Indre, sheltered the Venus de Milo alongside other Louvre treasures, including Michelangelo's Slaves, from 1939 until the Liberation; the Talleyrand family's château lay well away from the front.

To which country did the Venus de Milo travel for a 1964 exhibition?

Japan hosted the statue in 1964: shipped from France in a special crate, it was shown at exhibitions in Tokyo and Kyoto that drew enormous crowds.

Where was the statue hidden in 1870 when Prussian armies besieged Paris?

In the Prefecture of Police cellars the crated statue sat hidden through the siege, and it survived unharmed when Communards burned the building the following spring.

'Venus de Milo', a Gerry Mulligan composition, appears on which Miles Davis album?

Birth of the Cool collects the 1949-50 nonet sessions, and Gerry Mulligan's 'Venus de Milo' is among them, arranged for a nine-piece band with French horn and tuba.

Which surrealist made 'Venus de Milo with Drawers' in 1936?

Salvador Dalí made Venus de Milo with Drawers in 1936, a half-scale plaster cast fitted with drawers pulled by fur pompoms, picturing the body as a cabinet of hidden secrets.

How did René Magritte treat a plaster copy of the Venus?

Painted the body pink, robe blue, head white: in Les Menottes de cuivre (The Copper Handcuffs), Magritte turned an ordinary plaster cast into a coloured object, treating the famous statue as a painted surface.

In which animated sitcom does a rare 'Gummy Venus de Milo' candy cause a scandal?

The Simpsons episode 'Homer Badman' has Homer covet the rare Gummy Venus de Milo; his grab for it, stuck to a babysitter's jeans, is mistaken for harassment and sparks a media frenzy.

What was Milos famous for exporting as early as 15,000 years ago?

Obsidian, the island's volcanic glass, was carried by sea to the Greek mainland for razor-sharp blades from the late Palaeolithic, with Melian pieces found at Franchthi Cave long before farming began.

What is the term for a figure standing with its weight on one foot, as the Venus does?

Contrapposto, Italian for 'counterpoise', describes the stance: weight on one leg, hips and shoulders tilted in opposite directions; Greek sculptors introduced it in the early 5th century BC with the Kritios Boy.

According to Dumont d'Urville, in what kind of setting was the Venus de Milo found?

A quadrangular niche in the ruins is how Dumont d'Urville described the find-spot; a nearby inscription naming a gymnasiarch suggests the statue once decorated the town's gymnasium.

Which band's 1977 song 'Venus' has the singer fall 'into the arms of Venus de Milo'?

Television, led by Tom Verlaine, put the joke of a statue with no arms into 'Venus' on their 1977 debut Marquee Moon, one of the defining New York punk-era albums.

Which artist produced a copy of the statue in his own trademark ultramarine blue?

Niki de Saint-Phalle used a reproduction in a performance, while Dalí based The Hallucinogenic Toreador on the statue.