The Venus de Milo is one of the most enduring works of Greek sculpture. It was found on the island of Melos (or Milo), buried in the walls of an ancient ruin, and since then has captured the imagination of people around the world. It's a beautiful work of art, one made all the more intriguing by the immense mystery that surrounds it. In fact, you may even say that it's simply disarming.

The Venus de Milo is a semi-nude female, leaning and partially covered in draped clothing. There is a lot about this statue that is very characteristic of ancient Greek sculpture. For one, that leaning pose was a hallmark of the Greeks, and what allowed them to capture a life-like distribution of weight in their statues.

Secondly, the Venus de Milo was carved in a very Greek way. While the statue looks to be made of a single block of marble, that's not the case. It was actually carved from two blocks that were set together using vertical pegs (sort of like ancient Greek building blocks). That was very common in ancient Greece. In fact, when the Venus de Milo was rediscovered in the 1820s, it was found in pieces that were reassembled. Some pieces were never found, which is why the goddess is famously armless to this day.

Aside from the fact that the goddess originally had arms, the statue would have looked different in antiquity in other ways as well. Greek statues were generally adorned with jewelry or items that identified them. From small holes in the statue, it seems that the Venus de Milo once proudly sported bracelets, earrings, and a headband. It's also possible that the statue was once painted.

The other enduring mystery surrounding the Venus de Milo is who the artist was. Her facial expression is consistent with Greek trends of the 5th century BCE, the treatment of the marble is more consistent with the 4th century BCE, but the spiraling pose was not popularized until the 3rd century BCE.  Initially it was attributed to the sculptor Praxiteles, however from an inscription that was on its plinth, the statue is thought to be the work of Alexandros of Antioch. 

According to www.study.com