Venus de Milo

(from the Louvre)

Venus de Milo is one of the most famous pieces of classical Greek sculpture, easily recognizable by virtue of its missing arms. It is widely considered to set a standard of feminine beauty in the fine arts.

The Venus de Milo was originally presumed to be the work of the great sculptor Praxiteles, but an inscription on the plinth of the statue, now lost, attributed the work to Alexandros of Antioch. The statue, sans arms and plinth, is currently on display in the Louvre.

History of Missing Arms

In 1820, a Greek peasant happened across archaeological ruins while working his field. Among those ruins was a marble statue of a woman broken into two pieces, as well as many other marble blocks. A French naval officer, Jules Dumont d'Urville, happened to be in the country at the time, and came across the peasant who had turned to selling the work of art. D'Urville, versed in art of Antiquity, arranged a purchase of the statue, but his Captain refused to allow it to be taken on board his ship. The arrangment went unfulfilled until d'Urville could meet with the French Ambassador in Turkey, to whom he showed sketches of the statue. The Ambassador then sent his own secretary and a contingent of the French Navy to collect the statue. During the process, however, the French were attacked by a group of bandits. In an attempt to extricate themselves from the fight, the French dragged the statue along the ground, breaking off both the arms. They did not stop to collect the arms, which have been lost to history.

Upon re-assembling the two halves of the statue, replacement arms, based on the Capuan Venus, were constructed. The Capuan Venus is caught in a pose where Venus admires her reflection in a shield placed close to her knee, while she holds an Apple (the Apple of Discord) in her raised, left hand.

Sources

Piper, David. The Illustrated History of Art. London: Bounty Books, 1981. 42-43.