Posted on 11/13/2002 2:02:19 PM PST by Rodney King
By SAM HAYES
MELOS, Greece — The missing arms of the Venus de Milo were discovered last week in a cellar in Southern Croatia — and it turns out she’s got hideous man-hands!
“We rushed the arms to the Louvre in Paris and matched them up to the statue. They were a perfect fit,” says art historian Ovidio Bartoli.
“Then we did some carbon-dating and we confirmed that these are the real deal.”
Word of the discovery has created an uproar in the art world.
“It’s hard to believe someone so talented in anatomy would have such trouble keeping the fingers in proportion,” notes Campbell Hauser, the archaeologist who discovered the statue’s freakish limbs. “Instead of looking like the hands of a goddess, they look like those of a plumber!”
Art critics and historians are up in arms over this shocking find. Debate rages over whether or not the missing limbs should be restored. Leading the argument against restoration is art historian Ovidio Bartoli of the Ludvian Museum of National Art.
“The misshapen appendages are an abomination,” declares Bartoli. “I’m certain the artist removed the arms himself after he saw how they came out. He knew he would have a beautiful sculpture, if not for those awful ham- hands.”
On the other side of the debate is art critic Guisseppi Vesper, who says, “These arms are a historical find, one that should be fully restored.”
Bartoli disagrees. “Restoring this work of art to its original form would be a travesty. It would be like filling in the crack in the Liberty Bell.”
No one knows who sculpted the Venus de Milo, or exactly when it was carved. It was found by a peasant on an Aegean island in a basement.
Over the years, art advisors have proposed adding arms holding apples, lamps and clothes and even arms that pointed in different directions.
But France’s King Louis VIII decided that the Venus de Milo was perfect just the way she was.
An executive board at the Louvre will decide their fate next week.
Vesper calls it an insult to the memory of the artist to not reattach the arms to the statue. “I am confident this is what he would’ve wanted,” the art critic says.
He adds, “When it comes time to fight this battle in court, I will have a team of lawyers by my side. I will not face this challenge un-armed . . . and neither should the Venus de Milo.”
Repub prof could explain it better than I.
Some experts say there are two different types of artists, visual and haptic. Put simply, haptics slightly enlarge items they want to emphasize. A guy by the name of Rosenfeld, of Carnegie, PA, initially came up with it, I've been led to believe.
It kind of masquerades as a National Enquirer type tabloid and inhabits the check out lines at grocery stores, along with The Enquirer, etc, but is actually a joke. Albeit generally a weird and somewhat tasteless joke. I think it may have been a "legitimate" tabloid at one time.
I did find this effort by WWN to be pretty good!
I can't believe they'd put this article up without a picture though. I want to see the man hands!
That's just a myth, you know.
Maybe that Bud-Light commercial was right! Two young robed dudes thought it a waste of bud light to have two bottles of beer held in Venus's hands and broke the arms off to get the beer.
Are they clutching a cold Bud Light?
Hi. Long time no hear from.
No, large hands are not a Renaissance or classical thing. (The Venus de Milo is an older classical Greek piece anyway). I think Michelangelo just felt that hands were really important: to David about to throw the slingshot as well as to the famous sculptor himself. So he made them big.
Hi. Long time no hear from.
No, large hands are not a Renaissance or classical thing. (The Venus de Milo is an older classical Greek piece anyway). I think Michelangelo just felt that hands were really important: to David about to throw the slingshot as well as to the famous sculptor himself. So he made them big.
It is believed that Michelangelo's David, had not been intended to be displayed in the round, but rather in an architectural niche limiting the vantage points from which it could be viewed. One theory is that the sculpture is actually intended to be viewed from a limited perspective with regard to angles and height, and the exaggerated hands were executed in order to appear proportional from a specific viewpoint.
I believe that most people instinctively and unconsciously draw things that seem more important to them relatively larger than they really are. With the figure, this would be the head and the hands.
I did this for years, until my current teacher explained to me the merits of measuring what one is drawing. Only then did I realize that I had been drawing heads too large, out of proportion to the body. Conversely, in one of Michael Crichton's novels, he mentioned how small the decapitated head of one of the character's looked as it lay on the ground. Heads typically being no larger than 8 or 9 inches.
But my point is that there may not necessarily be 2 kinds of artists, visual and hepatic? so much as it's just that "visual," or "realistic" drawing is something that must be learned, while the other is apparently instinctive. Or that is how it seems to me, anyway.
RP, I think you pointed out that religious paintings done before the Renaissance often show the primary subjects, Jesues, Mary, etc. rendered much larger than the lesser figures shown grouped around? Although this would have been a conscious decision.
I think her original face looked like Batboy.
This news account omits the fact that the archaeologist later committed suicide. Apparently he just woke up one morning and realized his entire life's work was in ruins....
Haptic (from the the Greek, "haptos", meaning "to lay hold of").
"Haptic," thanks. No wonder I put "hepatic," my wife is an RN!
Does your wife post?
Here?
Yes, sorry about that. Work has been extremely busy, plus I took a bit of a break from politics for a while. I just popped in from time to time. Now that we're in another election year I'll ramp up again. I've really enjoyed your art threads, though.
Speaking of Florence, I'll be going back in June to (ostensibly) attend a conference there. Funny how academic meetings are held in places like Florence and not, say, in places like Duluth or Scranton.
Not sure about that. From the time of it's completion until the 19th century the statue was displayed outdoors, in front of the Signoria (Florence's government building). It was moved indoors to protect it from the elements and a full-size replica stands where the original stood.
BTW, the visual impact of the statue is nothing short of amazing. If you visit the Academy in Florence where it's now housed make sure it's the last thing you see because once you view the David you won't be able to look at another work of art for a while.
No, she is not too interested in politics, which I suppose is not all bad. I think she is grateful that I found a place to discuss it without her being the recipient! She likes art, but not in a serious way.
We have opposite personalities, which has worked out wonderfully well. Complements, as artists term it!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.