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The Aphrodite of Milos, or Venus
de Milo, as she is more widely
known, was found in Milos in 1820 by a local farmer, George Kentrotas.
A French naval officer, stationed in Milos at the time heard of the find and immediately
realizing its artistic value, advised the French vice-council for
Milos. Kentrotas was eventually persuaded to sell the statue to
the French Council, Marquis de Riviers, who made a gift of it to the
King of France, Louis XVIII. It was later placed in the Louvre of
Paris where it remains to this day, the object of ecstatic wonder to
millions of People.
The Statue of
aphrodite of Milos is dated at about 120
B.C., in the late Hellenistic period. It is 202cm high. The
slipping drapery on the hips hides the joint between the two blocks of
marble that were sculpted separately. A plaster replica of the statue can
be seen in the Archaeological Museum of Milos along with a number of other
marble statues, including a replica of Poseidon (the real statue is in
Athens). The statues are part of the ancient roman city of Klima.
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