VENUS DE MILO

ancient statue of Aphrodite, now in Paris at the Louvre Museum. Carved by a sculptor of Antioch on the Maeander River in about 150 BC, it was found on the Aegean island of Melos in 1820. The general composition derives from a 4th-century Corinthian statue. The action and modernized drapery give the Venus great nobility. The statue is a conspicuous example of the Hellenistic sculptural tradition's academic traits and close reliance on older masterpieces.