WEBVTT - Short Stuff: Venus de Milo 0:00:04.120 --> 0:00:06.960 Hey, I'm welcome to the short stuff. I'm josh, there's chuck. 0:00:07.600 --> 0:00:10.520 Neither one of us have four arms, which means that 0:00:10.600 --> 0:00:13.640 this is the short stuff about Venus de Mila. Let's go. 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:18.599 That's right. Who resides in the louver, right? I think 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:21.599 since eighteen twenty one when Louis the what is that 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:27.639 eight No, yeah, the eighteen man. You threw me off. 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:30.280 Always forget how to read those. It's been a while. Yeah, 0:00:30.280 --> 0:00:35.000 Louis the eighteenth donated Venus de Mila, one of the 0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:39.000 most famous dare I say statues in the world. Yeah. Also, 0:00:39.120 --> 0:00:41.120 just as a little a side chuck, if you ever 0:00:41.400 --> 0:00:43.920 kind of get tripped up by something like that, you're 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:46.400 talking to somebody, just swap it out for like a 0:00:46.479 --> 0:00:49.800 word like Louis the Magnificent, but say it authoritatively and 0:00:49.880 --> 0:00:52.639 the person will think that that's the name for that 0:00:52.680 --> 0:00:59.720 particular right, Louis the Overeater. So yeah, So the Venus 0:00:59.720 --> 0:01:02.640 to my Hello first ended up in Paris in eighty one. 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:06.679 Apparently that was um that was a really good timing 0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:10.440 because the nation of France was kind of in the 0:01:10.480 --> 0:01:13.959 doll drums as far as art is concerned. Right, Yeah, 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:16.280 there's a gentleman that will make a couple of appearances 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:21.040 in this episode. His name is Andrew Stewart, and uh, 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:24.360 I think he's a professor right art art historian and professor, Yeah, 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:29.600 professor of Greek Studies at UC Berkeley emeritus too. Oh well, yeah, 0:01:29.680 --> 0:01:33.880 the guy knows what he's talking about. Yeah. So apparently France, uh, 0:01:33.959 --> 0:01:36.920 they needed their national pride kind of picked up, and 0:01:37.080 --> 0:01:40.400 apparently Venus went a long way toward doing that. Yeah, 0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:43.920 because Napoleon had sacked a bunch of countries and city 0:01:43.959 --> 0:01:49.640 states and nations art collections plundered, and after the French Revolution, 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:53.120 Um well no, that was way after the French Revolution, 0:01:53.240 --> 0:01:56.560 after Napoleon was banished, We'll say that France had to 0:01:56.560 --> 0:01:58.600 give back a lot of that art. So the Louver 0:01:58.720 --> 0:02:01.960 kind of got sacked in verse. And then also the 0:02:02.040 --> 0:02:06.840 big dumb rival England, from France's vantage point of course, 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:11.040 not mine, had just acquired the Elgin Marbles, which meant 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:15.520 that they had a some sculpture by the greatest sculpture 0:02:15.560 --> 0:02:22.560 of antiquity known to humanity. Faddists, Yeah, I got it. Um. 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:25.640 So the Venus de Milo comes along and they're like this, this, 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:27.959 this is the most important thing I ever found. Let's 0:02:28.120 --> 0:02:31.919 um bandy it about as much as possible as such. Yeah, 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:33.720 and the whole thing with Venus de Milo is sort 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:37.000 of the mystery surrounding the origins and who the artist 0:02:37.160 --> 0:02:39.440 was and who maybe she had been she may have been, 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:43.680 and and of course the big question is two questions, 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:46.480 what happened to those arms and what will those arms 0:02:46.480 --> 0:02:49.560 are doing right before they were broken off, which I 0:02:49.560 --> 0:02:53.799 have to admit I'd never thought of until reading this. Yeah, 0:02:53.880 --> 0:02:56.880 I just never thought of her arms were doing anything 0:02:56.880 --> 0:03:00.680 of note, it's kind of weird now that think about it. 0:03:00.880 --> 0:03:03.240 But the funny thing is is, like you said, she 0:03:03.320 --> 0:03:06.480 shrouded in mystery as to her identity. But the one 0:03:06.600 --> 0:03:09.480 thing we know for certain she is not is Venus, 0:03:10.000 --> 0:03:13.480 the goddess of love to Rome. She was Greek and 0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:17.040 produced by the Greeks, so she would have been aphrodite 0:03:17.120 --> 0:03:20.560 at best, but we're not even sure she's aphrodite. She 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:23.440 could be a number of other people that have been proposed, 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:26.360 or a number of other goddesses. It didn't even have 0:03:26.400 --> 0:03:28.760 to be a goddess, right, No, it didn't. I saw 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:32.560 that she could have been an everyday person. But also, um, 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:36.480 she was found on me losch Uh, the Greek island 0:03:36.480 --> 0:03:39.520 which was really engaged in the sea as far as 0:03:39.600 --> 0:03:42.760 trade and fishing and all that. So some people have 0:03:42.880 --> 0:03:50.240 supposed that she was um actually Amphra Tidy in Amphatidy 0:03:50.320 --> 0:03:55.280 is there an r in there, thank you chuck, um, 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:58.880 that she's the goddess of the sea, Poseidon's old lady. 0:03:59.320 --> 0:04:04.040 As far as iikers would say, Yeah, and in Venus 0:04:04.040 --> 0:04:06.840 was always thought to be classical, but I think they 0:04:06.880 --> 0:04:11.200 did enough digging and found that she was actually neo classical, 0:04:12.680 --> 0:04:15.800 uh and not classical, although they say they sometimes still 0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:19.760 refer to her as a masterpiece of the classical classical genre. Yeah, 0:04:19.760 --> 0:04:23.560 because she again kind of carries France's national ego on 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:27.880 her shoulders. Um. So the idea that she was you know, 0:04:28.080 --> 0:04:32.960 created by some unknown master far back in antiquity, um, 0:04:33.000 --> 0:04:35.560 in the classical period is is kind of you know, 0:04:35.800 --> 0:04:39.479 part of France's pride in this thing. But supposedly, yeah, 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:42.640 they figured out there was a German archaeologist named Adolph 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:48.840 seriously fort Wrangler, I love that man's last name, foot 0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:52.600 thinker who that's even better, who basically said, yeah, she's 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:55.240 she's neo classical. You can tell from how she's dressed. 0:04:55.560 --> 0:04:57.920 But then I guess they also when she was found, 0:04:57.960 --> 0:05:02.559 they discovered a pedestal that had the sculptor's signature UM 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:06.520 that showed that she was very clearly created UM by 0:05:06.560 --> 0:05:10.320 a guy named Alexandro's of Magnesia, not to be confused 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:14.760 with the milk of Magnesia, but that would be. But 0:05:14.839 --> 0:05:19.360 then they lost it. They conveniently lost this pedestal and said, no, no, 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:22.920 this this is clearly created by one of the masters. 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:26.680 We just don't know which one, right, So good set up. 0:05:26.720 --> 0:05:29.000 I think we should take a little break and talk 0:05:29.040 --> 0:05:31.960 about those arms. I'm dina know about the arms right 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:36.279 after this. Well, now we're on the road, driving in 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:39.240 your truck. Want to learn a thing or two from 0:05:39.520 --> 0:06:04.479 Josh can chuck it stuff you should know, all right? Arms? Yeah? 0:06:04.640 --> 0:06:08.400 So again, never thought that her arms were doing anything. 0:06:08.440 --> 0:06:11.360 I think I just assumed she was being like like, hey, 0:06:11.400 --> 0:06:14.240 how's it going, I'm holding my hands out here, yeah, 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:17.040 or maybe like I don't know kind of thing um. 0:06:17.120 --> 0:06:19.400 But there there has been a lot of debate about 0:06:19.440 --> 0:06:23.120 what was going on with her arms. Apparently, at some point, 0:06:23.680 --> 0:06:27.800 an arm that would fit this statue, the venus de 0:06:27.920 --> 0:06:33.039 milo Um an arm holding an apple was found, and 0:06:33.160 --> 0:06:36.720 they think it's possible. Some people think it's possible that 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:41.120 that was originally attached to the venus to Milo. Yeah, 0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:42.920 and we should also point out there were some other 0:06:43.000 --> 0:06:47.720 things missing from the original statue, like originally she supposedly 0:06:47.760 --> 0:06:51.400 had metal jewelry bracelet earrings in a headband because they're 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:55.039 little fixation holes on those places in her body. And 0:06:55.080 --> 0:06:58.120 they think that she might have also been painted at 0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:01.520 one point and now that had it away, and then 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:04.800 the arms were I guess maybe some people might think 0:07:04.880 --> 0:07:06.640 if they never looked into it, that you never had 0:07:06.680 --> 0:07:09.640 the arms, but they were broken off because you can 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:12.280 see where that there were the dowel rods and everything. 0:07:13.320 --> 0:07:16.160 Because it wasn't carved as one big piece. You know, 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:19.000 these arms were put on afterward. But um, yeah, like 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:21.680 you said, they found an arm with an apple, and 0:07:21.720 --> 0:07:23.680 some people are like, well, yeah, she was holding an 0:07:23.680 --> 0:07:26.360 apple on one of those hands, which actually fits. There's 0:07:26.400 --> 0:07:31.120 a Greek myth called the Judgment of Paris about a 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:36.360 mythological um contest between Aphrodite, the goddess of love, hera 0:07:37.080 --> 0:07:41.200 Zeus's wife, and Athena, the goddess of war and um 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:44.440 this contest between them was won by Aphrodite and the 0:07:44.520 --> 0:07:47.520 prize was an apple, So this would have kind of 0:07:47.800 --> 0:07:51.640 commented on the judgment of Paris and Aphrodite winning this. 0:07:52.120 --> 0:07:55.360 And apparently it's symbolic of like the choice that that 0:07:55.440 --> 0:07:57.960 people have in life, or that men back in ancient 0:07:58.040 --> 0:08:02.320 Greece had right. So, um, your your choice in life 0:08:02.360 --> 0:08:08.400 was between love, war and politics, Aphrodite Athena or hera 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:12.800 um and the Aphrodite one that people wanted to they 0:08:12.840 --> 0:08:15.440 wanted they wanted to live with their heart. That's what 0:08:15.480 --> 0:08:18.640 the statue symbolize in that sense. Yeah, and that's one 0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:21.000 take on it. Um. I like this other one a lot. 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:26.720 This woman Elizabeth Wayland Barber, who's professor Emerita of Archaeology 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:30.440 and Linguistics at Occidental College, which I used to live near. 0:08:30.520 --> 0:08:34.480 So I'm all about that. Um. She says, you know 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:36.560 what I think, And and she even did like this 0:08:36.880 --> 0:08:39.760 three D renderings to sort of prove her point. She said, 0:08:40.360 --> 0:08:44.960 I think she was a regular lady who was weaving 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:48.520 um thread. And she said, if you look at the 0:08:48.559 --> 0:08:51.000 angle of the back and and ladies were doing all 0:08:51.000 --> 0:08:53.760 this textile work back then, if you look at her 0:08:53.760 --> 0:08:57.640 positioning and the way she was leaning and even where 0:08:57.679 --> 0:09:00.520 exactly she was looking. It looks to me like she 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:03.640 was spinning thread. And they if you, you know, if 0:09:03.640 --> 0:09:06.719 you look online, she has their pictures of her three 0:09:06.800 --> 0:09:10.199 D rendered spinning the thread and it looks real enough 0:09:10.240 --> 0:09:12.199 to me for someone who knows nothing about spent the 0:09:12.360 --> 0:09:16.160 thread spinning. Well. Also, not only that, apparently the musculature 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:20.400 of her shoulders and arms, um, would be about what 0:09:20.480 --> 0:09:23.440 you would expect for somebody who was spinning. She makes 0:09:23.480 --> 0:09:26.000 a weird position. Yeah, well, she makes a really good case. 0:09:26.200 --> 0:09:28.440 But also she this doesn't even need to be a 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:32.080 statue of just an ordinary person because apparently she says 0:09:32.120 --> 0:09:36.920 Aphrodite was also the goddess of spinning, well, the goddess 0:09:36.920 --> 0:09:43.080 of procreation and love. Um, so this would fit still anyway. Yeah, 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:45.800 that's a good point. Um. I did see another thing 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:48.520 that said, you know, from the angle of her back 0:09:48.679 --> 0:09:51.600 that they said, it's one of those things where retroactically 0:09:51.720 --> 0:09:54.319 you look back and it's like, you know, did Mona 0:09:54.360 --> 0:09:57.240 Lisa have a disease or something? And they said, did 0:09:57.440 --> 0:10:00.720 Venus de Milo have some sort of spinal condition? Because 0:10:00.720 --> 0:10:02.560 when you look at the way her back is twisted 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:06.080 and angled. It is a very irregular um route for 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:09.280 the spine. But you know it's also a statue. Is 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:11.280 it one of those things that would be that would 0:10:11.320 --> 0:10:16.400 be explained by the spinning position? Well, I mean it, 0:10:16.720 --> 0:10:19.120 she says. It matches what could have been a spinning position. 0:10:19.160 --> 0:10:22.400 But a spinning position could have been hard on your back. Maybe, 0:10:22.520 --> 0:10:24.240 I don't know. I would guess it would be hard 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:26.920 on your back for sure. It doesn't sound like something 0:10:26.960 --> 0:10:30.200 I'd wanted to so the Venus de Milo. If you 0:10:30.360 --> 0:10:32.440 haven't ever seen it, go see it. It's pretty neat. 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:35.000 It's in the loop. You can get there pretty easily, 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:41.319 especially if you're vaccinated against COVID nineteen. Good test. Uh, 0:10:41.440 --> 0:10:44.600 since I said COVID nineteen, everybody that means short stuff 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:49.800 is out. Stuff you should know is a production of 0:10:49.840 --> 0:10:53.280 iHeart Radio. For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the 0:10:53.280 --> 0:10:56.280 I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 0:10:56.360 --> 0:10:57.319 to your favorite shows.