The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-08-26 00:00:00

THE "VENUS OF MILO" AT THE
LOUVRE.

M. Theophile Gautier relates in the Jourart/ Officio/ ;
how the Venus of Milo was saved from the rnisslimy
and the Communists. At the beginning of the war,
he says, when the first defeats showed that Paris was
in danger t if being besieged, the most valuable of the
pictures in the Louvre were taken out of their frames
and sent to Reset; but it was not so easy to find a
place of security for the statues, whose weight and
fragility made it impossible to pack them properly for
so long a journey. Among these statues by far the
most valuable was the Venna of Milo, and "the
thought that this adorable work of art might become
Prussian filled our connoisseurs with Ilismay." At last,
after giving nmeh thought to the subject, the guardians
of the Louvre hit on an ingenious means of getting out
of the difficulty. The statue was taken down from
its pedestal anti laid in an oak coffin filled with wad-
ding. In the dead of night some men who could be
depended upon brought the coffin aith its precious
contents to a secret door in the Louvre, where it was
taken up by smite others anti carried to a spot known
only to themselves, where a crypt had been prepared
for the goddess in the cellars of the Prefecture de
Police. The hiding-place was at the end of one
of the numerous secret passages in the Prefec-
ture. A wall was built in front of the spot where
the Venus was laid, and covered over with rubbish,
so as give it the appearance cif antiquity. Ti,
, make assurance doubly sure, a heap of documents of
! some importance was laid in front of this wall,
and a second wall was then run up, so as to
make it appear that the hiding-place was
made for the documents. Here the Venus remained
during the whole perks, of the siege, her admirers won-
dering all the time what had become of her. Perhaps,
says .111. Gautier, she found her seclusion rather
tedious; but time is of no consequence to an immortal,
and she must have been accustomed to darkness by
her confinement of several centuries in the vault from
which the Greek wasant Gorgos extricated her. After
the first siege it was proposed to replace her on her
pedestal, but when the Commune was restored the
guardians wisely determined to leave her where she
was until order was restored. The secret was well kept,
and the Venus WWI not disturbed during the second
siegeany more than during the first. At length came the
defeat of the Commune, anti the burning of the prin-
cipal official buildings, including the Prefecture. The
anxiety caused to the guardians by this event may
be easily imagined. Was the Venus to perish after
all, now she had escaped both the bombs of the Prus-
• Sian, and the vandalism of the Commune Directly
the army of Versailles resumed possession of the

nwital the guardians hastened to the Prdeeture. The
still smoking ruins were carefully removed, and among
them was found the oak coffin uninjured. " A water-
pipe had miraculously saved the statue; we might now
apply to her the proud motto of the house at Heidel-
berg, 'Pr.estat invieta Venus'!" The coffin was
brought back to the Louvre, and 01,2ned before a com-
mission appointed for the purpose. " Every one
leaned forward eagerly to look. Lying in her soft
bed in a position which quite altered her usual appear-
ance, her mouth half-open as if to breathe the free air,
she seemed to look gratefully on her preservers with
that irresistibly charming smile which is unknown to
modern lips. All her features and limbs were com-
plete; no injury had been done to the marble by the
damp of the crypt in which it had solong been buried."

The following was the manner :says Golifinani, In which
this chef d'algcre came into the possession of Fronts:—

In 1829, a Greek peasant of the island of Milo—
the ancient Metes of the Cyc digging the
ground, found it buried, and broken in three tragments,
in a recess about seven or eight feet below the surface.
The French consul at Milo was then M. Brest, whom
the peasant informed of his treasure, and offered to
sent for &small sum. The fun, tionary, who knew
little about the tine arts, referred to M. Duval
commander of the French government transport, the
Enottoties, then at the inland. The latter, proposed to
purchase the statue immediately and remove it bi his
vessel. But this prneceding was ion hasty for the for-
malist, M. Brest, who writ,' a let tc r to the 7tlarquis de
limere, A tultissrelor for Louis X lii, at the Forte.
This 4,ol.lllllllliratiini WM lost on the way, but for-
tunately for France, M. Gorman .ITrville arrived at
that moment in Milo to conduct a hydrographical sur-
vey. lie saw the statue, recognised at once the value
of it, and sent a special courier to the Marquis de
Rivitire. The ambassador &spar-hist Count de Mac-
callus to Milo, with instructions to effect the purchase.
But all these formalities had taken time, and when the
count in OH Wand alt. VelillS had been shipped
on Is.ard a Turkish brig, and was about to leave la.
Constantinople. Ile immediately applied to the
mate. who 'assured by his insistanrie and even memus,,
ordered the statue to be landed and sold hy Suction.
This wax what Count de Marcellus desired ; anal
having become possessor of the treasure, he started for
France with it, and did not stop until he had reached
Paris. lie had bought it iii the name of the Marquis
de Riyiere, who transferred his bargain to Louis
XVIII., and King presented the statue to the nation.
Such is the history of one of the most eiquisite speci-
mens of Greek art in the world.