Venus Milo - the ideal of female beauty

Very many sculptures of ancient masters, surviving to our time, occupied a special niche of works of art. The works of the ancient Greeks, Romans and other peoples admire and amaze with their beauty, correctness and accuracy of proportions. To such sculptures is Venus de Milo, discovered by French navigators in 1820 on the island of Melos. It was her whereabouts and served as the source of the name of the statue itself.

The name of the sculptor who created this beauty is still unknown. On the pedestal there was only a fragment of the entry "... adros from Antioch in Asia Minor". It remains only to assume that the masters were Alexandros or Anasandros. It was found that Venus de Milo refers to the works of the first century BC, it combines several types of art at the time. Thus, the image of the head can be attributed to the V century BC, the smooth curves of the statue are characteristic of the Hellenistic era, and the naked body was a kind of cult in the IV century BC.

Aphrodite is an ideal and a model of beauty and femininity for many centuries. Today, the statue stands in the Louvre, time has affected its condition: it is covered with cracks and dips, there are no hands, but still it impresses visitors with its refinement, femininity and beauty. Coming to the Louvre, people ask where the Gioconda and Venus de Milo are. Parameters of the goddess for a long time were considered the standard of beauty: height - 164 cm, hips - 93 cm, waist - 69 cm, and shoulders - 86 cm.

Smooth bends of the body, tenderness of the skin, accentuated by a smoothly falling cloak, delicate features - all this indicates that before you is the real goddess of love and beauty. Initially, there was Venus Milo with her hands, it is assumed that she held a golden apple in one, and the second held a cloak. The goddess lost her body parts during a fierce struggle for the right to own a sculpture that flared up between the Turks and the French.

In 1820, the French explorer and naturalist Dumont-Durville landed on the island of Melos. Passing through the village, he was surprised in one of the courtyards saw a white statue of a woman, in which he recognized Aphrodite. The owner was a simple shepherd who informed the Frenchman that he had dug a sculpture from the ground. Dumont realized the value of the find, so he offered to buy it, the poor man realized that the seafarer was very well-off, and asked for a very large sum.

Venus of Milos liked the rich Turk, who promised to buy it. When he came to the shepherd and found out that the Frenchman was taking the statue, he was very angry and rushed to catch up with the seafarer. During the bloody battles, the goddess lost her hands, Dumont repulsed the sculpture itself, but he could not find his hands, presumably they were taken away by the Turks.

Today, Venus de Milo stands in the Louvre, and all thanks to the resourceful and brave seafarer. At one time this discovery caused the greatest delight of the entire French court, and Dumont himself enjoyed honors. Now the sculpture is known all over the world, and its copies are adorned with museums and houses of wealthy people. Even funny cases are associated with it, when an American, having ordered a statue, discovered that she has no hands. The man sued the carrier company, thinking that the limbs had broken off during transportation, and after a while found out that the original does not have hands.