About Venus de Milo Statue Purple – Réunion des Musées Nationaux-Grand Palais

This Réunion des Musées Nationaux-Grand Palais Venus de Milo Statue Purple resin reproduction is based upon the original Hellenistic sculpture, Aphrodite (Venus de Milo), made in Paros Marble by Alexandros of Antioch-on-the-Meander; currently found on Display at Louvre Museum. The Venus de Milo occupies a foremost place in the history of Greek sculpture and the taste for the antique. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the artists of antiquity did not choose marble for its pure whiteness. When studied under a microscope, many works reveal traces of red, blue, green or yellow pigments. Surprise: Greek Sculpture was polychrome. To revive the spirit of antique sculpture, mistakenly thought to be austere, this Venus de Milo Yellow statue has been covered with bright colors, along with many others in our collection. A farmer discovered the statue near the ruins of an antique theatre on the island of Melos (Milo) in 1820. The Marquis de Rivière bought it and presented it to Louis XVIII in 1821. The king later gave it to the Louvre. More details on Venus de Milo Statue Purple – Réunion des Musées Nationaux-Grand Palais:

• Material: Resin
• Dimensions: H. 11.8″ (30 cm) W. 3.9″ (10 cm) D. 3.7″ (9.5 cm)
• Weight: 2.2 lbs (est)
• Color: Purple.
• Original: Alexandros of Antioch-on-the-Meander, Aphrodite (Venus de Milo), from Melos, Greece, ca. 150-125 BCE. Marble, 6′ 7″ high. Musée du Louvre, Paris.
• Material of the original: Paros marble
• © Réunion des Musées Nationaux – Grand Palais

More About Venus de Milo

In the Hellenistic period, sculptors regularly followed Praxiteles’ lead in undressing Aphrodite, but they also openly explored the eroticism of the nude female form. The famous Venus de Milo is a larger-than-life-size marble statue of Aphrodite found on Melos together with its inscribed base (now lost) signed by the sculptor Alexandros of Antioch-on-the-Meander. In this statue, the goddess of love is more modestly draped than the Aphrodite of Knidos from which it is inspired upon. Her left hand (separately preserved) holds the apple Paris awarded her when he judged her the most beautiful goddess. Her right hand may have lightly grasped the edge of her drapery near the left hip in a half-hearted attempt to keep it from slipping farther down her body. The sculptor intentionally designed the work to tease the spectator, like other Hellenistic sculptors, who especially when creating works for private patrons went even further in depicting the goddess of love as an object of sexual desire.