A welcome newcomer to the Louvre
The Louvre’s Masterpieces
Aphrodite, known as the Venus de Milo
Perhaps the gentleness of her gaze and the slant of her hips would in any case have distinguished her from other sculpted goddesses… but this particular Venus carved out a reputation for herself as soon as she entered the Louvre. The statue was found on the Greek island of Melos (or Milos, as it is known today) and presented to King Louis XVIII, who gave it to the Louvre in 1821. Six years earlier, following Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo, the Treaty of Vienna had stipulated that some 5,000 artworks seized by Napoleon’s troops should be returned to their owners. As a result, the Louvre lost many of the artworks (antiquities in particular) that had contributed to its status as the world’s greatest museum under the First Empire (1804–1815). So the Venus de Milo was welcomed with open arms and hailed as a masterpiece. Her appeal is still as strong as ever and she continues to be widely copied and referenced in art and popular culture.
An apple or a shield?
The Venus de Milo was found in fragments and her original appearance is still something of a mystery. The first restorer wanted to give the statue arms – but how would they have been positioned? A hand holding an apple, found near the statue, may once have been hers... but the position of her left leg suggests she may have held a shield, as she does in many other depictions – a reminder that Venus was the lover of Mars, the god of war.