Episode 13 - Venus de Milo

Created in the 2nd Century BC, the great statue of the Goddess Venus was uncovered on the Island of Mélos in the south Aegean Sea, part of the Cycladic archipelago, today’s Greece. 

The Venus de Milo, or more accurately the Aphrodite of Mélos, was found on April 8, 1820, by a farmer, Yorgos Kentrots. 

The next few figures, which are said to have been part of her discovery, tell a lengthy story. 

We will dig deep into her story and why she is so famous. Who is she really, and how did she come to Paris? Listen today. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Bonjour, bonjour, and welcome to episode 13 of Paris in Blue, Blonde, Rouge with Claudine Hemingway. That's me. I'm coming to you from Paris today on what is an absolutely gorgeous Tuesday afternoon. It is blue sky. I don't think I see a cloud in the sky. It is supposed to be in the 70s this week, and it's absolutely gorgeous. So if you are coming to Paris, and I know a few people are, and I know a few few people that are here, and they are really lucky because last week it was not like this. So it is beautiful. This is the best time. And April, of course, is the best month of the year. So if you are here and you are coming, and it feels like everybody in the world is coming here this month because I am fully booked up with tours. So it is a great time to be in Paris. I mean, when is it not? But April in Paris, if we said that to my grandma, she'd belt out the song. But we are going to jump in because I'm going to tell you the story about a very famous woman of the Louvre. And this is not the Mona Lisa. This is the woman that was the first famous lady of the Louvre. And everybody knows who she is. If you've been to the Louvre, I'm sure you went by to see her because she's one of the big three. But you might not know a lot of the story. And I'm going to tell you this was probably the most challenging thing I've ever researched. And I'll tell you a little bit why as we go. But it this was really a labor of love to the point where I'm not giving up at this point. So it is, of course, the Venus de Milo. She should actually have a completely different name. I'll tell you that story too. But I picked it today because on April 8th, 1820 is when she was discovered. So that is 206 years ago this week that the Venus de Milo, Milo, Venus de Milo, uh was discovered. And she was discovered um on by a Greek farmer named Yorgos uh Gary Dot. He was searching on this property on the island of Melos. So there's a lot of things about her that is what we call her and what we know today is not exactly correct, but we'll go buy her Venus. But the island was originally called Melos, and that was the original name, but it wasn't changed to Milo because of the time all of the explorers that were coming through there, mostly from Italy and other places, they're the ones who decided to change it and just call it Milo, and now it's just stuck. Umelos was in this, it is in the South Aegean Sea that is part of the Cycladeck, um, the that's the archipelago. Today we know it is Greece, but at the time in 1820, this was not Greece. Burgos had uncovered a torso of a statue. He was looking for some stones to build a fence, and he made a discovery that would alter the attendance of the Louvre long before the Mona Lisa and became the first celebrity of the museum. There are many questions that surround the statue to this day, even over 200 years later. So sifting through the accounts to find the most accurate information of her discovery has been quite the struggle. Who created her, why she is so famous, and more importantly, who she actually is are the bigger questions we will dive into. This small island of Melos, once a volcano, had been inhabited since 300 BC and known for its obsidian marble. In 1820, the islands were still under the Ottoman Empire control, another important factor into how the scene will be played out. What we know is Greece today was simmering and about to boil over into a revolution that would begin on February 21, 1821, a year after the discovery of Venus. France and the Ottoman Empire had close ties since the early 16th century, nurtured by Francois Primier. The first Greek antiquities arrived in France in the 17th century under Louis XIV on behalf of the Marquise de Noitel. Under Louis XVI, the Duke de Choisiel raided the many islands, taking anything he wanted. He didn't get very far, and everything was confiscated and returned to its rightful owners. Napoleon cut his way through Europe, taking anything that lay in his path, and damaging relations between France and the many European countries. He had stayed away from the islands, but the damage was widespread. Following the fall of Bonaparte, the French military presence in Greece and the fleet in the sea after 18 focused on diplomatic missions and rebuilding those relationships. The island's location in the South Aegean Sea and the large harbor on the route from Malta and northern Africa brought great prosperity to Milos beginning in the 4th century BC. In the northeastern edge of the harbor, a large amphitheater was built, overlooking the sea, surrounded by pavilions, churches, porticos, and of course, statues. In 1810, the archaeological exploration began on the island of Milos, and in 1814, Carl van Hallerstein, on behalf of the Prince of Bavaria, excavated the amphitheater, but not the surrounding land. His loss. On this spring day in 1820, Jargos had walked a little over a thousand feet from his home and a short walk above the amphitheater in hopes of finding stones for the fence. Digging into the earth, he found a carved sculpture heavily covered in dirt and a little over three feet tall. He took the statue home and kept it in his kitchen until he decided what to do. Now there are many figures at play into this moment and the ones that follow, and there doesn't seem to be a concise decision on which one is accurate. How easy it must have been to create your own stories or description of events, especially when the publication and dissemination of the details didn't reach very far. Many men align themselves with the discovery of the Greek statue, from viewing its discovery to purchasing and even transporting Venus to Paris. Some of the accounts weren't released until decades after the discovery, and they were heavily embellished. Our first and the man most closely tied to the discovery is Olivier Voutier, a young officer on the L'Esta Fett schooner that had been anchored at the Milo harbor since February of 1820. He claimed to be digging not far from Yorgos and saw the very moment she was lifted from the earth and ordered the farmer to keep digging. While he watched, she sketched her torso, lower body, drapings, and the two pillars that were also found. Although these drawings never saw the light of day until 1892, more than 70 years after her discovery and 16 after his own death. Louis Brest, who is a vice counsel of France, was told of the discovery immediately and wrote a letter to the French ambassador of Constantinople, the Marquise de Rivière. Charles Francois de Refardo de Riviere was chosen in February 1815 by Louis XVIII and appointed on June 4, 1816, to help rehabilitate the relationship between France and the Ottoman Empire. Falling out of favor and almost out of a job, he was ordered to return to France in 1820, and in fear of losing that job, he thought a little gift to the king would work in his favor. Riviere asked his embassy secretary, Louis de Martin de Tirac de Marcellus, who knew how to negotiate and deal with the Ottoman officials to broker a deal. Our other man in this story who claimed to play a very large part in her discovery is Jules Dumont de Riville. In 1819, he joined the expedition to the Greek islands with Captain Pierre Henri Goutier de Parc. Dumont d'Arville claimed that he, not Louis Brest, was the one to alert the Marquise de Riviere of the discovery and advised him to purchase it immediately, as it would be great glory for the French. Dumont d'Arville described what he saw in great detail. The statue, whose two separate parts I measured, was about six feet high. It represents a naked woman whose raised left hand held an apple and on the right supported a belt skillfully draped and falling carelessly from the kidneys to the feet. Moreover, they were both mutilated andor currently detached from the body. The hair is curled from behind and held by a headband. The figure is very beautiful and would be well preserved if the tip of the nose had not been damaged. The only foot that remains is bare, the ears were pierced and had to receive pendants. He rode the wave of this story until his death and into the afterlife. A visit to the Montparnasse Cemetery in the 15th Division near the western edge is the final resting place of the Dumont de Rio family, who tragically died on the same day in a train accident in Moudon. I first spotted this grave years ago and known as Savenus de Milo carved in relief on the side. She is there beside a ship with one lone figure who is pointing at the statue. Way to hold on to your story long after you were gone. When I saw this originally, I couldn't figure out even the name on the actual tomb, and I really had to actually do some digging. So to put the fact that you have her on your grave, um, it's pretty uh pretty funny. But it is a really interesting, and I'll have pictures of it on my website. The fight to own Venus was down to the wire. There was a monk on Milos named Vergier, who said he had purchased a statue from Yorgos, who had discovered it. Vergier had the statue loaded on a ship bound for Constantinople. A storm rolled in and prevented the ship from leaving the harbor, and thus one of the tallest tales of her discovery. In 1874, Victor Jean Icard published a piece in the Peritombes paper and later a book based on the account of the embassy secretary Marcellus and Dumont Diville. And that was the statue that was unearthed. She had both arms intact. Her account reached the New York Times on April 28, 1874, claiming that the statue had been dragged across the rocks in a fight for control between the Ottomans and the French. ICAR said that a battle between 50 Frenchmen against 50 Ottoman soldiers ended in a bloody fight. I've even seen some accounts that said that over 200 Ottoman people were killed by the French in this battle, but again, none of that is actually true. Threatened that if Venus wasn't given to the French officials immediately, that they would invade and capture the island. In 1912, the entire episode was found to be made up, but that doesn't stop it from being retold to this day. After two days of negotiations, the Ottomans agreed to sell the statue to the French ambassador for 1,000 pilistres. He tossed in another 300 for good measure, bringing the price to less than$50 or about$2,000 today. On May 25th, 1820, the upper and lower bodies of Venus and a scattering of the smaller pieces, including the hand holding an apple, the chignon of her hair, a forearm, and the pillars, were packed and loaded onto the schooner and began its very slow journey to France. It stopped in Santorini, Rhodes, and Anthens, and remained there for a month and took every chance it could to show her off before changing and to a new ship in Constantinople and picking up the Marquise. On October 29, 1820, Venus and the Marques left his post in Constantinople and headed to Paris via Toulon, finally arriving and presenting the statue to Louis XVIII on March 1, 1821, in the Tuileries Palace. The very next day, the pieces of Venus were placed in the Musee de Louvre. Now the question was how to restore her. Forty-two years later, when Wing Victory was discovered, and the more than 115 pieces were sent to the Louvre, it was difficult to understand who the statue represented. They didn't have the same problem with Venus, which was in two large pieces that could easily be placed together. Even the pieces were easy to understand except for the hand. The curators of antiquities, Charles de Clarac and Restor Bernard Long, were the first to get their hands on the statue with a complete investigation into her condition as well as who she might have been. The rules of restoration as far back as the 17th century was to fully restore any broken part of the statue. This would change drastically after 1860, but in 1821, with the arrival of Venus, it was heavily debated how to repair and recreate this new Greek treasure. A fight between the curator and the director Forbon, who himself had visited Milo just a few years before when he uncovered a helmet and a vase that he brought back to the Louvre. Exactly who was she and how should she be restored? Greek and Roman statuary of mythological figures can be very easy to decipher if they are created with their attributes. Zeus or Jupiter has an eagle and a thunderbolt. Deanne or Artemis has her tiara, bow and arrow, or a dog. Juno or Era has a peacock. Neptune or Poseidon has a Triton, and Hermes or Mercury has the Caducis and winged shoes and helmets. Venus is the goddess of beauty and love. She was known to be the most beautiful goddess in the world. The mother of Cupid was a personification of beauty and the image of the perfect woman. When she was first discovered, a hand holding an apple was unearthed within a few feet of the larger pieces. In the recount of Dumont du Vil, he said it represents a naked woman whose raised left hand held an apple. And with this statement, they decided to call her Venus. One of the more famous mythological tales of Venus, or Aphrodite, is the Greek version, is the great contest between Aphrodite, Paris, Athena, and Hera. A wedding feast of the gods, a golden apple inscribed to the Pharis, was tossed into the center of the table by Eris, the goddess of discord. She was upset that she wasn't invited to the party. Zeus wanted nothing to do with it and instead ordered Hermes slash Mercury to take them to the Mount Eda with Paris, who was a Trojan prince, who would have to decide which of the three goddesses was the most beautiful. He chose Aphrodite, Venus, because she promised Paris that she would bring him the most beautiful Elena to marry. This story is known as the Judgment of Paris and would be the impetus of the Trojan War. Here's a fun fact Elena is a daughter of Leda and Zeus, that I talked about in episode 11 of the Fontaine de Medicis, because the back of it has the statue of Leda. So check that one out if you didn't hear it already. Venus is often depicted holding that golden apple, which is why our beautiful statue was given the name. However, since she was found on a Greek island, shouldn't she actually be Aphrodite? Some scholars believe that she actually represents Aphrodite, a Greek sea nymph and the wife of Poseidon. In 1877, a large statue of Poseidon was found in Milo in the same area where Venus had been found 57 years earlier. Carved from the same Paros marble and roughly the same size, there is much more evidence pointing to her actually being Aphrodite. We can date the sculpture to the Hellenistic period based on the marble used and the island's great prosperity of the time. The Hellenistic period covers over 300 years from the death of Alexander the Great to the death of Cleopatra in 30 BC. It was a period when the Greek islands and culture were at their peak. It is also the same period that we are blessed with the creation of Wing Victory, the true Queen of the Louvre. Further investigation dates her to be created between 150 and 125 BC. My girl Victory is a bit older at 200 to 175 BC. Michelangelo is well known for saying that the stone block would tell him what it wanted to become. Massive statues sculpted from one large piece, but long before the Renaissance, these large statues were created in multiple pieces and joined together. Venus was carved from two large blocks of Paros marble from the nearby island, known for its translucent quality and one of the finest marbles in Greece. Her two large pieces, one of her lower body covered with drape fabric, and the other of her upper body and head. The sculptors of the time conserved every inch of marble, which might give us some clues about her arms. Her right arm was sculpted and placed close to her body. As for her left arm, which is missing today, it would have been a separate piece attached at her shoulder with a mortise and tenon joint, creating a perfect fit without using any glue or cement. Using other statues of the goddess of love as a base, the restorers imagined different scenarios of what she might have looked like. Venus stands 6'6 and was most likely placed inside a niche. She stands in the contraposto position, meaning her weight is on one leg, the other bent at the knee. This was an aesthetic choice to allow the fabric to drape and fold over her legs. It's thought that her right arm rested against her stomach, holding the drapes of the fabrics between her fingers. If you look closely, southwest of her belly button, you could see a rough patch where her arm would have laid. As for the other arm, there are many hypotheses. Was it holding the golden apple like the portion discovered? Likely not as that fragment is of lesser quality than the statue itself. Was it straight up to the side holding a shield that she was looking at at her reflection? Also unlikely as her head is looking more straight than down. Could it have been resting on one of the pillars discovered nearby as well? Doubtful as each pillar is topped with a head and the size doesn't line up. Many ideas drawn from other statues of Venus and Aphrodite inform this scenario. In the end, they show great restraint to her restoration, an uncommon practice at the time. Instead of adding in their own interpretation of the statue, they left her as she was discovered with the smallest bit of surgery. The tip of her nose, lower lip, big toe of her left foot, a few of the edges of the folds, and her right foot were restored or replaced in record time. Louis XVIII wanted her on display as quickly as possible. She was held together in the center by metal rods of her upper body, which slide into two mortises of her lower body. Her body went through a lot between its discovery and transport by the various boats and arrival in Paris. Considering her age, she was in relatively good condition. Close up, you could really see the damage on her upper back and near her stomach, layers of stone that have disappeared. A portion of the base with Greek lettering that was found near her was believed to be the man who actually might have sculpted her. Incomplete and missing the first letters, it reads Andros Son Minde and the city of Antioch and Meander Maid. That's all we have. It wasn't until quite recently in the scope of time that artists began to sign their work. Prior to the Renaissance in art and architecture, it was more about the person who commissioned or paid for the project. That is why we still don't know the name of the first architect of Notre Dame de Paris, but we know it was paid for by Maurice de Souvy. Obviously, the artists had to be talented, but it wasn't about the celebrity of the artist. That all changed during the Renaissance, and it's still difficult to find many paintings with signatures from that period. For statuary, signatures began to appear more towards the end of the 17th century. In the second century BC, Venus, or Aphrodite, wasn't just a representation of beauty. She was also the ideal woman. But she was also decked out in jewelry. This might be my favorite part of the story. As far back as the 5th century BC, the figures weren't just statuettes, white marble in the corner, they were painted and even bejeweled. Did she have rosy cheeks, red lips, blonde hair, and wrapped in red fabric? Was that what Venus looked like? Well, we actually don't know, but that's how I would dress her up. Even under the most powerful X-rays that the Louvre has, they've never found any remain of color. However, we can see that she loved a bit of jewelry. I mean, what girl doesn't? It's hard to see from the ground, but her hair pulled back into the chignon is held by a thin headband. Four small holes suggest that gold or bronze jewelry was once attached. Perhaps even a diadam tiara. Sadly, her earlobes are broken, but if you look closely at her left earlobe, you could see a hole where pendant earrings once hung. The easiest to see is that her right arm, or what remains of it. Just above the cut, two distinct holes remain where an upper arm bracelet would have been attached. The biggest question might be, of course, though, why is she so famous? Much like the Mona Lisa, it's based a bit more on coincidence and circumstance than on the art itself. There are many men who inserted themselves into her story, but it was one man who never ever saw her in a roundabout way, created the global celebrity that is the Venus de Milo. As Napoleon Bonaparte rose in power and marched through Europe, he took everything he wanted paintings, sculptures, manuscripts, books, anything, and left treaties behind, claiming it was all on the up and up. In 1814, after his fall and before his return, the countries and the Pope came calling, demanding the return of their treasures. The following years, 95% of the items he had taken were returned. The 5% that remained were given as a gift to France by Italy and the Pope or traded, much like Vernese's wedding feast of Cana. In 1821, the rumor had spread throughout the world that the Louvre was filled with stolen items, which wasn't true by that time. Fast forward 90 years to 1911, and an Italian glass worker spending his days at the Louvre placing glass over paintings has an idea to take an Italian painting back to his homeland because he thinks all of them had been stolen by Napoleon. This, of course, is the Mona Lisa. I have even had friends who thought this was still true, and we're 200 years after the fact. Of course, I set them straight. In 1821, people didn't want to come to the Louvre because they thought everything was stolen, much like we think of the British Museum. So the Louvre had a PR disaster on its hands. Greek antiquities, especially those of the Hellenistic period, were just beginning to see the light of day in museums. Roman copies of Greek stats. Had already been transported across Europe, including to Versailles and the Musee de Louvre. But an actual Greek sculpture, one left in the form of which she would discovered, was a big deal. Suddenly, the Louvre realized this and over the next 30 years began creating copies of her in various sizes, selling photographs and books featuring her likeness and sending them across Europe and the Western world. At the same time, the discovery of Venus in 1820, the era of transatlantic travel began from North America, also a perfect storm of circumstances. By 1874, the numerous altered versions of her story, especially those contributed by Victor Jean Icard, spread far and wide as the New York Times article of April 28, 1874. This gathered even more fame surrounding our armless heroine. The new star of the Louvre was hard at first to work into the collections of antiquities, mostly dedicated to Roman statuary. She was first placed in the Museum of Antiquities created under Napoleon and placed in the summer apartments of Anne of Austria from May 1821 to April of 1822. The rooms are far too crowded for our goddess, and she was moved to the Sal Dienne, where she remained until her moved to her forever home. The Sal Tiber, later renamed the Sal Venus de Milo, of course. Once placed on a rotating base, she spinned around, allowing people to take her all in without moving. Today she remains in this room and gets the natural light from the sun mid-morning, flooding the red marbled walls. A few items also found on Milo are in the case nearby, including the hand holding the apple, part of the arm, and a foot with a sandal and three pillars. Just past her is a fantastic painting by Joseph Wollencourt that was painted in 1824, showing Venus in this room that she remains in until this day. On the first floor in the Salle des Verts, just past the Gallery d'Apalon, look up at the ceiling at the painting by Jean-Baptiste Mosier. It's called Time Showing the Ruins He Brings and the Masterpieces He Leaves to Discover. You could see Venus in there, painted in 1822, when she was a pretty big deal. She is found again in the ceiling of the Salon Denon, just outside the Salle des Etats, home of the Mona Lisa. On the west side, the allegory of taste holds Venus in her hand. Venus has inspired many artists since her discovery. Theodore Chasserot, Cezanne, and my man Eugene Delacroix are just a few that sketched her many times. Delacroix hadn't ever visited Greece, but the revolution that began as soon as she arrived had everyone captivated and on the side of the Greek people. In 1823, he painted the large massacre of CO painting that's held in the Louvre just across from Liberty leading the people. Look close at Liberty. Does she remind you of anyone? Delacroix was inspired by the draping, her stance, her strong face, and of course her bare breasts, and the idea of what the arm might be holding. I have come across many social media posts and videos of people claiming and linking wing victory to Liberty and Delacroix. But it was in fact Venus. Delacroix had died before Victory ever arrived at the Louvre. Now there's one period of time in the Louvre that is fascinating to me, and it this also tells the story of Venus and what happened to her. So Napoleon III declared war on Prussia on july eighteenth, eighteen seventy. By the end of August, the Louvre decided to remove the most important works from the museum for safety in the first evacuation of its kind, but not the last. Venus remained behind in the Louvre, but at the siege entered Paris and created choke points in all the routes in or out, they had to find a hiding place for Venus. In the dark of night on january sixth, eighteen seventy one, Venus slowly made her escape from the Louvre to the nearby prefecture in the Palais de Justice on the Isle de la Cite. Placed in a hidden corridor, she was covered in plaster, and a brick wall was built to hide her. Clever workers rubbed the wall with garbage to make it look like it's always been there. They stacked piles of boxes and documents and then built another wall. They thought this was the way if they broke into the wall, they would first find the documents and then just move on. The siege came to an end on January twenty eighth, and just when the art was about to return to the Louvre, one of the most destructive periods in Paris history began. On May 28th, and for the next ten days, the communars set fire and destroyed many of the government buildings in the center of the city. On May 23rd, the Palais de Twileries was torched and the fire reached the Grand Gallery, but was quickly contained. In July, it was time to remove Venus from her hiding place at the prefecture. During her seven months slumber, a water pipe had been leaking over her head and it slowly softened the plaster that covered her, as well as the plaster used to join her upper body to her legs in 1821 after her arrival. Once she returned safely to the Louvre, the second restoration began. The base in the plaster left foot was removed, but plaster and even two new large metal dowels were drilled into her body where she was attached. This would all be fixed in her third restoration in 2009. This was all a test run and would happen again in 1914 in the advent of World War I. At the end of August, the most important pieces of art were once again packed up as the Great War began. This was all a test run for what was about to happen in 1914 with the advent of World War I. At the end of August, the most important pieces of art were once again packed up as the Great War began. Venus and more than 900 works of art were packed in crates in a frenzied few days and taken to the Australitz train station to be taken to the large église de Jacobin in Toulouse as German planes flew over Paris. Venus returned once again in December 18, but her biggest move was yet to come. The evacuations of 1870 and 1914 paled in comparison to what the Louvre would go through in 1939. Once again, it was the last week of August when the Louvre would close, and hundreds of people from the Ecole du Louvre department stores and the Louvre staff quickly removed the art from the walls, built Craigs for the statues, and packed everything up. Beginning on September 1st, convoys left the Louvre day and night, but Venus and her friends winged victory and the dying slaves of Michelangelo remained securely in the Louvre. When they realized the intentions of Hitler and his greedy henchmen, they decided the rest of the Louvre needed to be empty. At the end of October on the 29th, Victory, Venus, and Michelangelo's slaves left in the convoy at 29 trucks for the Chateau du Valençay in the Loire. Former curator Gerald Van Ducamp oversaw these precious items, including the crown jewels that were hidden in a wall safe. The week before the liberation of Paris, the Venus de Milo and the other works almost had a very tragic end. Between August 10th and the 16th, the German SS officers and the Milice members that were made up of extreme French and European members came to a head with the FFI and resistance in front of the chateau. Curator Andre Gorand asked them to move on, but they didn't take kindly to his suggestion. They eventually broke in and set fire to the stables located next to a small building where Venus was stored. The fire was quickly extinguished as it reached the roof. Four days later, they returned and entered the chateau to question Vandekamp about his involvement with the FFI. He admitted they were hiding Venus there and the FFI was there to help protect the treasures. The Nazi soldiers said they weren't even interested in art and they were on their way. Had that been a year or two before, Venus victory and the dying slaves of Michelangelo and the crown jewels could have been taken. On June 29th, 1945, Vanderkamp himself drove the truck, holding the statues back to the Louvre and were once again on display on July 10th, 1945 within the Louvre. Venus left the Louvre one more time, less than 20 years later, this time on a diplomatic mission. In 1963, the same year the Mona Lisa traveled across the Atlantic to DC and New York, Venus was going to visit Tokyo. Andre Malraux orchestrated the visit of the Greek statue in recognition of the Tokyo Summer Olympics. Packed carefully with straw, cardboard, rubber, and encased in lead in a wooden crate, she left Marseille on the high seas. A month later, she arrived in Tokyo after a ship, train, and finally a truck. Upon arrival, four pieces had been broken off. Three were plaster that were added in 1821, but one was the original piece of her drape fabric. Displayed at the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo starting on April 8th, 1964, and then to the National Museum in Kyoto. On August 3rd, 1964, she was safely back within the walls of the Louvre. Venus was never going to leave the Louvre again. Well, hopefully. In 2009, she went under her third restoration. At this restoration, they actually removed all of the plaster that had been placed in 1821 and again in 1871 and cleaned the entire thing. When they took out the plaster, they ended up finding a little plug that was under just a little bit under her breast, her right breast. And in there, they found a piece of paper. And on this piece of paper, and I was really excited, it was gonna be super old, but it said restored April 5th, 1936 by Le Beau and Morbier Louvre, and that was it. But it was placed inside of there, and I actually saw a picture of what that looks like. But she had been restored at that point. They had taken out all of the old plaster, everything was cleaned and repaired, and all of the restorations that happen now, especially like uh liberty leading the people. The restoration is a very different act, and it's more of a cleaning it and returning it to the original artist's intent. Um, in the restorations of the past, like in 1821 and 1871, they're filling it in, they're adding plaster because plaster really will attach itself very easily to the marble. And it is, but it's better to actually take marble and and sculpt the pieces, re-sculpt the pieces to add on. But the plaster, of course, is easier. So the 2009 went from November 2009 to April 2010, it's a pretty short period of time. Um, that is when she was last restored, and she looks pretty good to this day, even though it's many years later. So hopefully she won't be uh in need of a little cleaning anytime soon. Venus, of course, continues to make the news, although not as frequently as her much younger cousin from Florence. On January 24th, 2024, at the Arcurial Auction House, a very special treasure went up for sale. It's one of the earliest plaster copies of Venus, and it was sold at auction for over 57,000 euros. Dating back to Louis XVI in 1794, the Atelier de Moulange was created and set up within the Louvre to make exact copies of the many statues that could be placed in palaces and given as gifts. A copy of Venus was made shortly after she arrived in April of 1821 and made from her exact body. In 1830, Louis Philippe ordered a copy as a gift for the Comte de Marcelles as a thank you for his discovering of the statue. It was placed in his chateau in Bordeaux and remained with his family until it was sold at auction in 2024. It is most likely the second statue made from the mold and gathered great interest at the auction. And it was purchased by the Louvre. I don't know if that's what they really should have been spending money on. In retrospect, do we really need the second copy of the plaster version? But I did get to go. I was invited a year or two ago to go to this actual atelier that used to be housed in the Louvre and now is is out is north of Paris in the Saint-Denis area. And I was able to go there on a tour. And let me tell you, when I saw the actual original mold on a shelf of Venus, I just about died. There's actual uh copies of her there, and I'll put the sta uh pictures on my website. And it's actually when you see these copies, it's that it's you know, you could actually get really close to them, especially here, uh, because I was in kind of like their their atelier. Um, you could get really close to them, and they're not going to get upset with you, you know, getting that close. Um, but you know, it is exact, it has the same little pieces that are missing off of her back and the the little rough spots near her belly button. It's exact. I mean, they literally take the body, cover it, make a mold, then have this mold made, and they could pour in the plaster to make new versions of it. Um, and you could purchase these. So copies of these statues can be bought today. Life-size versions as well as small statuettes to place on your desk and maybe, you know, hang your jewelry on, or you could even find just upper portions of her body. She also comes in lots of fun colors and is created from the original version we see today, but they aren't cheap. The small versions are 199 euros, and there's also a 34-inch tall version that's 1,400 euros. But if you go to the Louvre and you walk past the gift shop on your left as you walk out, as I call my crack dealer, because that's where all the books are, there is a massive version of her, life-size version of her in black. And if you go up the stairs, um, which is where they kind of have a little area where you could actually talk to them and order some of these things, um, there's a huge uh white version of her. And I don't think they have price tags on it, but I'm gonna go check. Um, they do have a life-size exact copy of a Wing of Wig Victory, and I really want it, but it's a little, it's shy of 10,000 euros. So maybe I'll just get a little red Venus for 199 with my discount and then hang my jewelry on it, because that is really what she was intended for. So definitely go and check it out. And if you go to the Louvre, if you can just take this with you and listen to it, um, and I'll tell you all about Venus right before your eyes. But if you uh are coming to Paris, definitely reach out uh at least if you can a month in advance to do a two walking tour around Paris. And I'd love to share um all the great history with you. But check out also my YouTube because I'm gonna put together a video of a lot of these things that I talked about and a little video of uh Venus herself and give you some close-up looks at some of those uh little details I told you about. But come back next week because we're getting close to a couple big anniversaries in April, and I will share more about that in the coming weeks. So definitely check out ClaudineHemingway.com for more information. And I have a lot of you that uh which I love that tell me that you make all the you pause it and you have to make all these notes, and I talk too quickly. I'm sorry, but uh there's a lot to cover and you could slow it down a little. But to save you um from writing all the notes, I put the transcript up on my website. So check out ClaudineHemingway.com and under the new podcast, Paris in Blue Blanc, Rouge, you could find that. You know, you could print it out, cut and paste it, whatever you want to do for some of the details I talked about. But I do love hearing that you guys love to take notes. So that makes me very happy. So I hope you all have a very wonderful first week of April and had a wonderful Easter weekend. And I will see you next week.