The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1894-02-21
ARMS OF THE VENUS.
AN ENGLISH sCULPToR's SOLUTION
OF THE MYSTERY.


vast An'phithcater at Nclos Typifying
Great Goddess Comforting Honors-A
Problem In Art.
| Any number OF attempts have bonn
mado to restore to her original perfec-
ton tho Venus of Mclos, who has stood
in arinless beauty for the admiration of
the thousands of art lovers who visit the
Louvre, bur the original design is ms
problematical still as the meaning of
the monster that guards tho pyramids,
ana SO accustomed have people become
TO the Venus as it emerged from the
| ruins of the Melos amphitlcater that no
sculptor has yet been ablo to effect
restoration which satisfies the sense
thus cultivated. John Bell, an Eng
lish sculptor, has made tho latest resto
| ration.
| AS no mention appears in ancient rec
ords OF art, there is no knowing what
| parsonage or deity the SO called Venus
may have been intended to represent.
She has been entitled Il Venus Victrix.
and one of her lost hands is supposed to
have held the apple, tho award of Paris.
while another speculation has been that
she formed part of group with Mars.
According to another idea she repre-
| sented sea nymph, the special protect
| ing Nercid of the isle. BY some she has
| been said to be Il Nemesis. in connection
| possibly with the Athcnian massacre of
| tho Islanders, about the time of the Pei
oponnesian war. BY others she has
been adopted as Nike or Victory.
Others have assigned to her the names
OF Sappho, Phryne or mourning Elec-
ira, while yet another version has been
that she was Tyre playing muse. The
most general idea, however, has been
that she was an Aphrodite or Venus.
which is highly probable from the al
most universal worship of that goddess
throughout the coasts and islands of
the Algcan archipelago, and it has been
suggested that she had a harp in her left
hand while she played on it with her
right, which the position of the torso
and the remains of the arms admit of.
But the most favored and at the same
time the least dignited of the floating
speculations is that she is coquettishly
holding and looking i'll Il mirror The
argument in favor of this is that a
bronze statuette has been discovered in
Pompcii which much resembles it, and
it is holding and gazing in mirror.
To very many archeologists this last
seems the most probable solution of its
mystery. Certainly the pose is appro-
pirate; certainly the demitoileted con
dition is in accordance with the theory
too. But Mr.. Bell is incapable of enter
tanning this notion of its motive, land
having addressed his thoughts to some
mission that seemed to him more wor-
thy he has decided that Il great goddess
comforting honors is more in keeping
with the dignity of the sculpture
Though small the island of Melos
must at one time have been very popu-
lous 1t was famous for its catacombs,
famous for its cyclopean lamparts and
for its huge amphitheater. 1t was in
the ruins of this last, in cave grotto,
that the figure which from the Paris
Louvre charms the world was found.
Mr.. Bell thinks its original situation
was in the amphitheater; that it posed
MS the genius loci of the structure, and
that at some time of commotion it was
removed to the grotto Tor protection
and concealment.
Methinks | see her there. he saws,
IN the vast amphitheater thronged
with adorers of the great goddess, the
central object at some high festival.
Under this aspect what species of
motive is open to us for the restoration
of this noble work consonant with its
grand form and majestic presence: She
stands with the utmost iilmmcss and
dignity, and Il benign smile is on her
face as she slightly bends forward. The
principal fractures indicate that her