Editing Venus de Milo (section)

==Description==
The ''Venus de Milo'' is an over {{convert|2|m}} tall{{efn|name=height|Sources vary on the exact height of the Venus. Gregory Curtis reports that it is {{cvt|6|ft|7|in|cm|order=flip}}.{{sfn|Curtis|2003|p=xvii}}  Brill's New Pauly says {{cvt|203|cm|ftin}}.{{sfn|Hinz|2006}} The Louvre's online catalogue states {{cvt|204|cm|ftin}}.<ref name= LouvreCat>{{Cite web |title=statue; Vénus de Milo|url=https://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010277627|access-date=2021-04-27|website=Musée du Louvre|date=<!-- Citation bot adds wrong date--> |language=en}}</ref>  Christofilis Maggidis says {{cvt|211|cm|ftin|adj=on}}.{{sfn|Maggidis|1998|p=177}} Alain Pasquier says {{cvt|204|cm|ftin}} excluding the plinth, or {{cvt|211|cm|ftin}} including it.{{sfn|Pasquier|1985|p=23}}}} [[Parian marble]] statue<ref name=LouvreCat/> of a Greek goddess, most likely [[Aphrodite]], depicted with a bare torso and drapery over the lower half of her body.{{sfn|Hinz|2006}}  The figure stands with her weight on her right leg, and the left leg raised;{{sfn|Havelock|1995|p=94}} her head is turned to the left.{{sfn|Kousser|2005|p=238}} The statue is missing both arms, the left foot, and the earlobes.{{sfn|Curtis|2003|p=xii}} There is a filled hole below her right breast that originally contained a metal [[Mortise and tenon|tenon]] that would have supported the right arm.{{sfn|Curtis|2003|p=189}}  

The Venus' flesh is polished smooth, but chisel marks are still visible on other surfaces.{{sfn|Kousser|2005|p=234}}  The drapery is more elaborately carved on the right-hand side of the statue than the left, perhaps because on the left-hand side it was originally obscured from view.{{sfn|Kousser|2005|p=239|loc=n. 68}}  Likewise the Venus is less finely-finished from behind, suggesting that it was originally intended to be viewed only from the front.{{sfn|Maggidis|1998|p=183}} While the body of the Venus is depicted in a realistic style, the head is more idealised. The lips are slightly open, showing teeth, and the eyes and mouth are small.{{sfn|Maggidis|1998|p=184}} The sculpture has been minimally restored: only the tip of the nose, lower lip, big toe on the right foot, and some of the drapery.{{efn|Initially, a plaster left foot was also added to the statue; it was removed in 1883.{{sfn|Curtis|2003|p=106}}}}{{sfn|Pasquier|1985|p=35}}

Stylistically, the sculpture combines elements of classical and Hellenistic art.{{sfn|Kousser|2005|p=238}} Features such as the small, regular eyes and mouth, and the strong brow and nose, are classical in style, while the shape of the torso and the deeply carved drapery are Hellenistic.{{sfn|Kousser|2005|p=239}}

[[Kenneth Clark]] describes the figure as "the last great work of antique Greece", and "of all the works of antiquity one of the most complex and the most artful. ...[the sculptor] has consciously attempted to give the effect of a 5th-century work", while also using "the inventions of his own time"; "the planes of her body are so large and calm that at first we do not realise the number of angles through which they pass. In architectural terms, she is a baroque composition with classic effect".{{sfn|Clark|1960|pp=83–84}}  
{{multiple image
| align = center
| direction = 
| width = 
| image1 = MG-Paris-Aphrodite of Milos.jpg
| width1 = 200
| caption1 = Front view
| image2 = Aphrodite of Milos.jpg
| width2 = 226
| caption2 = Three-quarter view
| image3 = Venus de Milo Louvre Ma399-06a.jpg
| width3 = 108
| caption3 = Back view
}}