The artwork that I am going to talk about is one of the famous sculptures of the Greek

Hellenistic period. Along with La Gioconda and the Victory of Samothrace, the Venus de Milo is
one of the three great ladies of the Louvre Museum. This sculpture was discovered on the
Greek island of Milos in the heart of the Cyclades archipelago.

The Venus de Milo has remarkable characteristics of its time and is strongly recognized
for its composition, historical importance, and controversy.
Let's talk about its composition first

The Venus de Milo is a sculpture made of white marble. It is 211 centimeters tall and weighs
900 kilos, which underlines its monumentality. One of the most representative techniques
shown in this sculpture. It is the contrappotso. This technique refers to how the human body is
harmoniously organized, especially when a movement or tension is shown in the human
silhouette even though the body is at rest. The statue of the Venus de Milo highlights the
contour of his body due to the contrapposto that is generated when bending her knee while
standing. The weight is distributed on a single leg which functions as a point of support
allowing the sculpture to take on a sinuous shape

Now I'm going to talk about its historical importance

According to most experts, the statue of Venus de Milo represents the goddess
Aphrodite and the story of the judgment of Paris, based on Greek mythology. However,
it is believed that this sculpture may be an alternative representation of the sea goddess
Amphitrite who was worshiped on the island of Milo at the time. During the 19th
century, this sculpture was praised by several art critics as one of the great treasures of
Greek art due to its feminine and aesthetic beauty as a result of its remarkable grandeur
and grace.
Controversy

There are various versions to explain how the Venus de Milo finally ended up in Paris.
All suggest that a farmer discovered the sculpture. However, a first version states that
shortly after its appearance, it was immediately confiscated by the Turkish authorities
who continued to have influence in Hellenic territories and, after doing so, they sold it
to a French naval officer known as Jules Dumont D'Urville. A second version indicates
that the peasant sold it to the Turks for a good reward, which they later sold the
sculpture to the aforementioned French army officer. A final alternate version indicates
that the peasant sold it to an Orthodox clergyman who subsequently sold it to the officer
Dumont.