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Undergraduate
Classics Teaching Collections |
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| Backward |
Forward |
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| Name: |
Melian
Aphrodite (Venus de Milo) |
| Picture: |
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| Description: |
From
Melos. Paris, Louvre. H. 2.02m. Marble statue of Aphrodite. She stands
looking to the left, her weight on her right foot, left leg slightly
thrust forwards. Her torso is heavy in contrast to the smaller, finer,
head. Around her hips is draped a cloth, falling in heavy folds, providing
a pleasing balance to the upper body. Her right foot peeps out from
beneath the draperies. |
| Date: |
150-125 B.C. |
| Discussion: |
Typical
Hellenistic baroque 'open form' sculpture. The head features a small
mouth, smooth brow, marked bridge on the nose, and realistic detailing
to the eyes and hair, which hearkens back to the fifth and fourth
centuries. The heavy drapery around the waist and hips is also indicative
of the fourth century. The base found with this statue proclaimed
the sculptor to be one Alexandros of Antioch on the Meander, but this
was conveniently 'lost' when the statue was presented to the French
king Louis XVIII as a Praxitelean original! See Robertson 1981: 201;
Stewart 1990: 96, 224; 806 (ill.); Pollitt 1986: 167, 172 (ill.). |
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