Dawn Keiser, age 15, of Nampa, Idaho, for her question:

WHO CARVED THE VENUS DE MILO?

one of the most famous statues in the world is a magnificent marble figure of Venus or Aphrodite called Venus de Milo, or Venus of Melos. It is one of the greatest treasures in the Louvre museum in Paris.

We don't know who carved the statue, but we know it came from ancient Greece.

The statue received its name because a peasant found it on the Greek island of Melos in 1820. For hundreds of years the statue had remained hidden in an underground cave near the ruins of an ancient theater. During these centuries, the statue had suffered considerable damage. It was in two parts when found. Pieces of the arms were found with it, as well as a pedestal with an inscription. These later disappeared and no one has ever found them.

The Marquis de Riviere, French ambassador to Turkey, bought the statue. After it was repaired, he gave it to Louis XVIII of France, who presented it to the Louvre.

Although we don't know who carved the Venus de Milo or exactly when, we think it was probably made during the first or second century B.C. under the influence of a master whose work belonged to an earlier, greater period of Greek art.