Venus de Milo

The Venus de Milo, the Aphrodite found on the Aegean island of Melos on April 8, 1820, and shown at the Louvre since May 1821. The Louvre dates her to about 120 BC. She was built from two blocks of marble joined at the hip, just where her drapery begins to slip. That contrast is the point of the figure: a smooth, softly turning upper body above heavy, deeply cut folds that look ready to fall.