Venus de Milo, Alexandros of Antioch, second century, The Louvre Museum, Paris, marble.
Venus de Milo: A Timeless Beauty
The Venus de Milo, also known as the Aphrodite of Milos, is a celebrated Greek masterpiece dating back to the late second century BC. This marble sculpture, created by Alexandros of Antioch, stands at six feet and eight inches tall and represents the Greek goddess of love, beauty, and fertility, Aphrodite, known as Venus to the Romans. Discovered on April 8, 1820, on the Aegean Island of Melos in pieces, it was reassembled and shown to Louis XVIII, who then donated it to the Louvre, where it remains today. The Venus de Milo is believed to have originally been colorfully painted and adorned with jewelry, though these embellishments were likely stolen over time (Curtis, 2005). The statue's missing arms add to its allure, sparking debates about what gestures they might have been making – perhaps one arm resting on a pillar and the other holding up her garment, or even holding a golden apple, a symbol tied to the mythological contest that led to the Trojan War (Morford et al., 2013). Today, the Venus de Milo is universally recognized and admired, representing an ideal of classical beauty despite its imperfections, and continues to inspire artists worldwide.
Carved from marble around 150 BCE by Alexandros of Antioch, a Greek sculptor from Phrygian Antioch (Morford et al., 2013), the Venus de Milo captivates viewers with its serene expression and graceful posture (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2024). The composition, derived from earlier Corinthian sculptures, emphasizes elegance through the goddess's pose and flowing drapery. Alexandros aimed to depict Aphrodite as a goddess whose devastating beauty grants her immense power in the universe, capable of swaying the hearts of all gods and mortals except Athena, Artemis, and Hestia (Morford et al., 2013). This portrayal reflects the Hellenistic tradition's academic precision and reverence for idealized beauty.
Eros often depicted with Aphrodite in art and literature, symbolizes physical, sexual love – a force as primordial as Chaos itself in Greek mythology (La Fond, 2024, slide 2). In Alexandros's rendition, the Venus de Milo subtly embodies this union of beauty and desire, captured in its timeless marble form (La Fond, 2024, slide 3). La Fond (2024, slide 6) further explores Aphrodite's dual nature as Urania and Pandemos, illustrating Plato's Symposium and its philosophical interpretations of love. This dichotomy, echoed in Alexandros's sculpture, highlights Aphrodite's role not only as a deity of physical love but also as a celestial and spiritual force (La Fond, 2024, slide 8).
The Venus de Milo stands as proof to Alexandros's skill in capturing divine grace in marble, perpetuating Aphrodite's timeless allure across centuries. Her depiction as the goddess of love underscores the statue's cultural significance as a symbol of beauty and desire.
Works Cited
Curtis, Gregory. Disarmed: The Story of the Venus De Milo. Sutton, 2005.
Encyclopedia Britannica. "Venus de Milo." Encyclopedia Britannica, 23 May 2024, www.britannica.com/topic/Venus-de-Milo.
La Fond, Marie. "Immortal Beloved: Aphrodite." University of Washington, 2024, www.uw.edu/aphrodite. Accessed 7 July 2024.
Morford, M. P. O., Lenardon, R. J., & Sham, M. Classical Mythology. Oxford University Press, 2013.