NATURE IN THE LOUVRE. 257 



not for some time think of inquiring into material par- 

 ticulars. But there is a tablet on the pedestal which 

 tells all that is known. This statue is called the ' Venus 

 Accroupie,' or Stooping Venus, and was found at Vienne, 

 France. The term ' Venus ' is conventional, merely to 

 indicate a female form of remarkable beauty, for there 

 is nothing in the figure to answer to what one usually 

 understands as the attributes of the goddess. It is simply 

 a woman stooping to take a child pick-a-back, the child's 

 little hand remaining upon the back, just as it was 

 placed, in the act of clinging. Both arms are missing, 

 and there appears to be some dispute as to the exact 

 way in which they were bent across the body. The 

 right arm looks as if it had passed partly under the left 

 breast, the fingers resting on the left knee, which is 

 raised ; while the left arm was uplifted to maintain the 

 balance. The shoulders are massive rather than broad, 

 and do not overshadow the width of the hips. The right 

 knee is rounded, because it is bent ; the left knee less 

 so, because raised. Bending the right knee has the 

 effect of slightly widening the right thigh. The right 

 knee is very noble, bold in its slow curve, strong and 

 beautiful. 



Known of course to students, this wonderful work 

 seems quite overlooked by the mass of visitors to the 

 Louvre, and its fame has not spread. Few have even 

 heard its name, for it has not been written and lectured 

 into the popular mind like the Venus de Medici. While 

 I was studying it several hundred visitors went straight 

 past, without so much as a casual glance, on their way 

 direct to the Venus of Milo, of which they had read in 

 their guide-books, and of which they had seen splendid 

 photographs in every window. One came along, on the 

 contrary, very slowly, carefully examining the inscrip- 



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