This is the Venus de Milo, an ancient and extremely famous Greek sculpture. It is one of the many famous
works of art in the Louvre. The identity of the sculptor is unknown.
Just about every photograph of this sculpture in existence shows it from the front— everyone knows what that looks like. I therefore
decided to show it from the back, which has the added advantage of showing the crowd that is invariably gathered in front of the
sculpture. Here, the Venus de Milo silently regards her admirers, and they noisily gawk at her. This was taken in the evening, so the
crowd was light. It's much larger during the day.
This sculpture is fairly lifelike, if you ignore the fact that it is made of stone, and if you overlook the rather outdated
hair style of the model. I’d hardly call it the epitome of feminine beauty—real women are a thousand times prettier
than any sculpture, no matter how well executed—but at least it is not as egregiously unrealistic as many other sculptures
of women seem to be. This statue could almost pass for the real thing, if you squint a bit.
Nobody really knows where the arms originally were placed, since they were already missing when the statue was rediscovered.
The statue is seen here in a "temporary" location, where it has been for several years now. The normal location is a short
distance away.
