Name:	Melian Aphrodite (Venus de Milo)
Picture:
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.).