AN FRENCH MARBLE FIGURE OF VENUS D'ARLES

Venus, goddess of love, was venerated by the Romans as the mother of the of the Roman peoples, and Julius Caesar claimed to be descended from her. This combined to make her one of the most popular deities of the Roman world. This sculpture is after the antique prototype of 100 BC now in the collection of the Musée du Louvre, Paris. The original sculpture was discovered by workmen digging a well on the site of the Roman theatre at Arles in Southern France in 1651. The magnificent sculpture was discovered broken in pieces and was lacking several elements, including the arms, although these missing elements were subsequently replaced by the royal sculptor François Girardon (1628-1715). Girardon also largely recarved the original sculpture during restoration as attested by the surviving plaster cast of the Venus d'Arles, taken before the restoration was carried out which was rediscovered in 1911. Following its excavation and reassembly, the sculpture was subsequently presented to Louis XIV to adorn the famed Galerie des Glaces at the Palace of Versailles before being seized during the French Revolution and removed to the Louvre where it remains.