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The sculptor is unknown and the date of
her carving is only surmised but she is one of the most famous
ladies in the world. Her graceful body symbolizes an ideal of
beauty that many long for but none attain. The French named her
Venus de Milo. In 1820 a peasant named Yorgos found her broken
body in an underground cavern on the Aegean island of Melos.
He knew that such treasures of antiquity were to be turned over
to the Turkish authorities but for a time he hid her lovely beauty
in his barn. The secret was disclosed and the officials took
her from him and loaded her onto a Turkish vessel. Somehow she
was transferred to a French frigate off the coast of Melos; the
Turkish official was publicly whipped, the French said it was
a legitimate purchase, and she who was destined to become famous
sailed away to France. After the statue had been presented to
King Louis XVIII, his art advisors sought the assistance of French
sculptors in supplying the missing arms. They devised arms which
held apples, garments, lamps, and arms that held nothing at all
but pointed in various directions. Finally the king decreed that
her marvelous beauty should not be marred by any other sculptor.
It was a momentous decree which from that time on resulted in
ancient statues being left practically as they had been found. |
