WEBVTT - How Does the Venus de Milo Work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of I Heart Radio, Hey Brainstuff.

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<v Speaker 1>Luren Bobebam here. She's one of the most recognizable figures

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<v Speaker 1>in the art world, but she's shrouded in mystery ever

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<v Speaker 1>since Louis the eighteenth donated her to the Louver in

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<v Speaker 1>eighteen twenty one. She's captured the attention and praise of

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<v Speaker 1>audiences and historians, but many are still baffled by her origins.

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<v Speaker 1>So who is Venus de Milo and what exactly happened

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<v Speaker 1>to her arms? The half draped, armless marble statue of

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<v Speaker 1>a goddess that many of us know as the Venus

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<v Speaker 1>de Milo likely represents one of two figures who aren't

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<v Speaker 1>technically Venus, the Roman goddess of love, sex, beauty and fertility,

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<v Speaker 1>but rather either Aphrodite, Venus's Greek counterpart, or Amphride, the

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<v Speaker 1>goddess queen of the Sea and wife of Poseidon. But

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<v Speaker 1>when the statue was discovered in eighteen twenty on the

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<v Speaker 1>Greek island of Milos and presented to Louis, who in

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<v Speaker 1>turn donated her to the Louver, no one was quite

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<v Speaker 1>sure what to make of her. For the article this

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<v Speaker 1>episode is based on has to work spoke via email

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<v Speaker 1>with Andrew Stewart Nicholas C. Petris, Professor of Greek Studies

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<v Speaker 1>Emeritus at UC Berkeley. He said, when the Louve acquired

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<v Speaker 1>the statue in eighteen twenty, the British Museum had just

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<v Speaker 1>acquired the Elgin Marbles, universally attributed to the fifth century

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<v Speaker 1>BC sculptor Phideous, generally acknowledged by ancients and moderns as

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<v Speaker 1>the greatest of Greek sculptors. Since she was obviously later

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<v Speaker 1>stylistically but still classical, she was immediately attributed to Praxilites,

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<v Speaker 1>the greatest fourth century BC sculptor and universally acknowledged master

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<v Speaker 1>of the female nude epitomized by the love goddess Aphrodite.

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<v Speaker 1>A base found with her signed by the sculptor Alexandro's

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<v Speaker 1>of Magnesia on the Meander, a city not founded until

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<v Speaker 1>the third century b c. E was thus immediately and

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<v Speaker 1>conveniently lost. According to Stuart, a German archaeologist is credited

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<v Speaker 1>with discovering Venus de Biolo's true root as a Greek

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<v Speaker 1>neo classical statue, not a classical one, but the revelation

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<v Speaker 1>didn't come until the late nineteenth century. When he realized

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<v Speaker 1>that her drapery was clearly Hellenistic and probably created in

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<v Speaker 1>the second century BC. Despite her real identity, the statue

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<v Speaker 1>is still often tied to an older era. Stewart said

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<v Speaker 1>she still is regarded as a masterpiece of the classical genre,

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<v Speaker 1>partly because we have so few originals of her size,

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<v Speaker 1>state of preservation and quality. If you've never seen her

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<v Speaker 1>in person, you may not know how much larger than

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<v Speaker 1>life she really is. The Venus de Milo stands some

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<v Speaker 1>six ft eight inches tall that's about two hundred and

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<v Speaker 1>four centimeters. Some details of her original appearance are known.

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<v Speaker 1>For one thing, she originally wore metal jewelry, including a bracelet, earrings,

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<v Speaker 1>and headband. Since there are fixation holes remaining in the

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<v Speaker 1>appropriate locations on the statue, the marble that she's carved

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<v Speaker 1>from may have been embellished with painting, gilding, silvering, or

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<v Speaker 1>other coloration that's since faded or fallen away. And at

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<v Speaker 1>some point she did in fact have arms, but they

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<v Speaker 1>were never found. Stewart said, the right arm is broken away,

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<v Speaker 1>its hand originally grasped the top of her drapery. The

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<v Speaker 1>bust legs, left arm, foot base, and herm socketed into

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<v Speaker 1>the base, were carved separately and doweled on with iron

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<v Speaker 1>dowels set and lead, a common technique. A herm, by

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<v Speaker 1>the way, is a square pillar that's topped with a

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<v Speaker 1>carved statue of a god's head, often hermes, hence the name.

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<v Speaker 1>Stewart said that at the end of Antiquity, a time

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<v Speaker 1>period that signifies the transition from the Greco Roman period

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<v Speaker 1>to the Middle Ages, someone removed Venus's limbs in order

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<v Speaker 1>to take the metal dowels and recycle them. Quote. The

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<v Speaker 1>best bet, in my opinion, is that she held an

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<v Speaker 1>apple in her outstretched left hand, which would have rested

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<v Speaker 1>on the herm. Such an arm was found in a

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<v Speaker 1>nearby niche and is represented in a nineteenth century drawing

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<v Speaker 1>in the louver. The apple would be both her personal

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<v Speaker 1>accessory or attribute her toke and prize at the Judgment

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<v Speaker 1>of Paris, and a pun on the name of the island,

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<v Speaker 1>since the Greek for apple is Milan and apple's feature

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<v Speaker 1>prominently on Hellenistic million coins. The Judgment of Paris is

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<v Speaker 1>a Greek myth that's central to Venus de Milo's many

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<v Speaker 1>symbolic ties. It describes a contest between three goddesses Aphrodite, Hera,

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<v Speaker 1>and Athena for the prize of a golden apple addressed

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<v Speaker 1>to the fairest. Stewart wrote all about this in his

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<v Speaker 1>book Art in the Hellenistic World. An introduction quote from

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<v Speaker 1>that book dedicated to the gods of the Gymnasium in

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<v Speaker 1>which she was found. She would have symbolized the ties

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<v Speaker 1>of affection that united the Melians who exercised there. Moreover,

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<v Speaker 1>Greeks had long understood the judgment of Paris as symbolizing

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<v Speaker 1>a man's three principal life choices, war Athena of politics,

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<v Speaker 1>Hera or love Aphrodite. Stewart says that because they were

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<v Speaker 1>at the time largely engaged in Warren politics, that third category,

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<v Speaker 1>love of marriage and home life, were attractive or aspirational.

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<v Speaker 1>He said that Venus's multidimensional appeal quote would have created

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<v Speaker 1>the sense of an in group among the Gymnasians clientele,

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<v Speaker 1>satisfying at one stroke the demands of local piety and

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<v Speaker 1>this culture's overriding desire to connect. But this is just

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<v Speaker 1>one theory how stuff works. Also spoke with Elizabeth Wayland Barber,

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<v Speaker 1>Professor Emerita of Archaeology and Linguistics at Occidental College and

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<v Speaker 1>author of Women's Work the First twenty thousand years Women,

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<v Speaker 1>Cloth and society in early times, She thinks Venus's missing

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<v Speaker 1>arms were very much engaged in a different and meaningful

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<v Speaker 1>domestic activity. She said, while studying the origin and development

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<v Speaker 1>of textiles in the Eastern Hemisphere, I found copious evidence

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<v Speaker 1>that women were always doing most are all of the

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<v Speaker 1>textile related work. The Venus de Milo is an exactly

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<v Speaker 1>the position used at that time and place for spinning bread,

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<v Speaker 1>the part of the job that took the most time,

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<v Speaker 1>so women were spinning every moment they could find. Barbara

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<v Speaker 1>says that although the statue's arms are long gone, the

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<v Speaker 1>musculature sculpted in her shoulders and upper back suggests that

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<v Speaker 1>they were raised in just the position required for spinning,

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<v Speaker 1>and her eyes are focused on the exact spot one

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<v Speaker 1>would have to watch as they spun, she said. Also,

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<v Speaker 1>Aphrodite a k A. Venus was viewed by the Greeks

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<v Speaker 1>as the goddess of spinning as well as of procreation,

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<v Speaker 1>but the two are closely linked, both by the umbilical

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<v Speaker 1>cord attached to the new baby and by the fact

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<v Speaker 1>that in both spinning and baby making you start with

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<v Speaker 1>a formless blob and create something remarkable out of it,

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<v Speaker 1>seemingly by magic. Whatever the case, we can all agree

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<v Speaker 1>that the Venus de Milo is one of the most

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<v Speaker 1>enduringly fascinating, albeit puzzling products of the Hellenistic period. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>episode is based on the article Venus de Milo the

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<v Speaker 1>most famous arm a statue in the world on how

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<v Speaker 1>Stuffworks dot Com, written by Michell Konstantinovski. Brain Stuff is

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