1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:02,000 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class. It's a production of I 2 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:07,400 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Welcome to This Day in History Class, where 3 00:00:07,440 --> 00:00:22,360 Speaker 1: history waits for no One. Today is April nineteen. The 4 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:28,800 Speaker 1: day was April. A farmer named your Ghost Controdas was 5 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:31,080 Speaker 1: digging through the ruins of an ancient city on the 6 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:34,760 Speaker 1: Aegean island of Milos, which was then known as Melos. 7 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:38,280 Speaker 1: As he was removing the stones from a wall, he 8 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:42,480 Speaker 1: began and covering a sculpture an insign in the French 9 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:46,080 Speaker 1: navy name Olivier. Voutier was on the island looking for 10 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:50,080 Speaker 1: antiquities when he saw the farmer. The farmer was looking 11 00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:52,600 Speaker 1: for stones for a structure he was building, so he 12 00:00:52,680 --> 00:00:55,600 Speaker 1: took no interest in the statue. He just covered it 13 00:00:55,600 --> 00:00:59,360 Speaker 1: with dirt. But Boutier, on the hunt for relics, paid 14 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:03,080 Speaker 1: the farmer to dig up the statue. First, the farmer 15 00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:06,240 Speaker 1: uncovered the top half of the sculpture, the new torso 16 00:01:06,360 --> 00:01:10,080 Speaker 1: and head of a woman. After more digging, he unearthed 17 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:12,919 Speaker 1: the lower half of the statue, then a middle section 18 00:01:12,959 --> 00:01:16,640 Speaker 1: that was missing. Piece together, it was a woman standing 19 00:01:16,680 --> 00:01:19,600 Speaker 1: with her weight shifted into one hip cloth draped around 20 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:23,480 Speaker 1: her hips and legs, slightly larger than life size. The 21 00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:26,480 Speaker 1: farmer also found a hand holding an apple, a piece 22 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:29,240 Speaker 1: of an arm, and two herms, which are sculptures with 23 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:31,360 Speaker 1: a pillar on the bottom and a bust or head 24 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:35,400 Speaker 1: and torso of a person on top. Mutier drew the 25 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:38,720 Speaker 1: pieces of the statue the farmer had found. He tried 26 00:01:38,760 --> 00:01:41,000 Speaker 1: to get a French vice consul and his captain to 27 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:45,119 Speaker 1: buy the statue, but to no avail. That's the story 28 00:01:45,160 --> 00:01:48,040 Speaker 1: that's generally thought to be true, although there are some 29 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:52,720 Speaker 1: conflicting accounts of the sculptures. Discovery author and editor Paul 30 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:56,720 Speaker 1: Carris claimed a peasant named Yourgos Botonis and his son 31 00:01:56,800 --> 00:02:00,720 Speaker 1: Antonio found the statue in two pieces and several other 32 00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:05,720 Speaker 1: marble fragments in February of eighteen twenty, but eventually French 33 00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:08,880 Speaker 1: and Greek authorities reached an agreement where in the French 34 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:12,560 Speaker 1: foot pay one thousand francs for the statue. The Marquis 35 00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:16,760 Speaker 1: de Riviere, the French ambassador to the Ottoman Turks, approved 36 00:02:16,760 --> 00:02:21,079 Speaker 1: the purchase. After traveling around the Mediterranean see the statute 37 00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:24,600 Speaker 1: got to Paris in February of one and in March 38 00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:27,519 Speaker 1: it was presented to King Louis the eighteenth, who soon 39 00:02:27,560 --> 00:02:31,280 Speaker 1: donated it to the Louver. At first, the French believed 40 00:02:31,320 --> 00:02:33,840 Speaker 1: the sculpture to be from the Classical period of Greek 41 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:37,840 Speaker 1: art from the fifth and fourth centuries BC, and the 42 00:02:37,919 --> 00:02:41,720 Speaker 1: classical work was exactly what the Loup wanted. But a 43 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:45,880 Speaker 1: base found near the statue attributed the sculpture to Alexandro's, 44 00:02:45,919 --> 00:02:51,080 Speaker 1: son of Mendis, citizen of Antioch. Of Mander. The Greek 45 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:54,519 Speaker 1: city of Antioch wasn't found until after the Classical age, 46 00:02:54,720 --> 00:02:57,560 Speaker 1: meaning the statue had to be from the Hellenistic period, 47 00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:01,359 Speaker 1: an artistic age that wasn't looked upon as favorably as 48 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:04,760 Speaker 1: the Classical. So the director of the Louver said the 49 00:03:04,760 --> 00:03:08,520 Speaker 1: base was not part of the sculpture. He convinced a 50 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:11,520 Speaker 1: scholar to write a paper in eighteen twenty one saying 51 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:14,239 Speaker 1: that the sculpture came out of the school of Praxidils, 52 00:03:14,720 --> 00:03:19,520 Speaker 1: a renowned Greek sculptor from the fourth century BC. That 53 00:03:19,639 --> 00:03:23,520 Speaker 1: was the official assertion for more than a century. During 54 00:03:23,520 --> 00:03:27,400 Speaker 1: that century, Venus was presented as a classical marble, and 55 00:03:27,480 --> 00:03:30,760 Speaker 1: generally people soaked that up. Stay for some critics who 56 00:03:30,760 --> 00:03:35,080 Speaker 1: dismissed the sculpture's value. French scholars went up against German 57 00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:38,560 Speaker 1: scholars who said that the statue was Hellenistic and that 58 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:41,680 Speaker 1: it was rightfully Germany's because it was found on land 59 00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:45,880 Speaker 1: owned by Crown Prince Ludwig the First of Bavaria. But 60 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:50,080 Speaker 1: in nineteen fifty one the Lubs conservator of Greek Enroman antiquities, 61 00:03:50,120 --> 00:03:54,040 Speaker 1: acknowledged the Hellenistic dating of Venus de Milo. It's now 62 00:03:54,120 --> 00:03:58,440 Speaker 1: believed that Alexandros of Antioch created Venus de Milo between 63 00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:02,480 Speaker 1: one thirty and one DC E. What actually happened to 64 00:04:02,520 --> 00:04:05,520 Speaker 1: the base in question, whether it was destroyed or hidden, 65 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:10,360 Speaker 1: is a mystery. Today. The Grecian statue, we mistakenly call 66 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:14,760 Speaker 1: Venus de Milo, Venus's Greek name is Aphrodite, still lives 67 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:18,640 Speaker 1: in the Lube in Paris, and Hellenistic art is now 68 00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:23,520 Speaker 1: viewed positively. The well known marble sculpture is now considered 69 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:26,680 Speaker 1: a masterpiece in the art world, but it went through 70 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:30,479 Speaker 1: a pretty long journey to get there. I'm Eve Jeff Coo, 71 00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:33,200 Speaker 1: and hopefully you know a little more about history today 72 00:04:33,279 --> 00:04:37,119 Speaker 1: than you did yesterday. A couple of notes here about 73 00:04:37,160 --> 00:04:40,200 Speaker 1: the Venus de Milo. Some people think she might actually 74 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:42,839 Speaker 1: be the sea goddess Amphi tried e and also the 75 00:04:42,880 --> 00:04:45,359 Speaker 1: fact that her arms are missing has led many people 76 00:04:45,400 --> 00:04:47,600 Speaker 1: to speculate on what she was doing with her arms 77 00:04:47,640 --> 00:04:50,760 Speaker 1: when she had them. If there's something that I missed 78 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:53,359 Speaker 1: in an episode, you can share it with everybody else 79 00:04:53,480 --> 00:04:57,760 Speaker 1: on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook at T d i h 80 00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:02,880 Speaker 1: C Podcast. Thank you so much for listening, and we'll 81 00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:03,920 Speaker 1: see you again tomorrow.