Venus de Milo

The sculpture was discovered in two pieces by a farmer named Yorgos Kentrotas on the island of Milos in April 1820, buried in a niche in the ruins of an ancient city. A French naval officer, Jules Dumont d'Urville, recognised its importance and alerted French officials. The work was acquired by the Marquis de Rivière, who presented it to King Louis XVIII, who donated it to the Louvre in 1821.

No complete arms survived — they were already missing when the statue was found, though some fragments discovered nearby (now lost) may have been part of them. An inscription that originally appeared on the plinth was apparently discarded by those who acquired the sculpture, possibly because it named the artist (Alexandros of Antioch) and dating it to the Hellenistic period — rather than the more prestigious Classical period of Praxiteles — was seen as reducing its value.