Facts of the Day!
8th April 1920 - The Venus de Milo is found on the island of Milos. It was found by peasant named Yorgos Kentrotas, inside a buried niche within the ancient city ruins of Milos, the current village of Tripiti. The statue was found in two large pieces (the upper torso and the lower draped legs) along with several herms (pillars topped with heads), fragments of the upper left arm and left hand holding an apple, and an inscribed plinth. The statue was excavated by a French Naval Officer and purchased by the French ambassador to Turkey, Charles-François de Riffardeau, marquis, later duc de Rivière. It was taken to the Louvre and reassembled there, and was found to have been carved from at least six or seven blocks of Parian marble: one block for the nude torso, another block for the draped legs, another block apiece for each arm, another small block for the left foot, another block for the inscribed plinth, and finally, the separately carved herm that stood beside the statue. Created sometime between 130 and 100 BC, it is believed to depict Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of erotic love and beauty. (Venus is her name in the Roman Pantheon)
The statue used to be on the seal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), one of the oldest associations of plastic surgeons in the world.
8th April 1842 - Elizabeth ‘Libbie’ Bacon was born in Monroe Michigan. Her three siblings and mother died before she was 13, and as the only surviving child she was doted on by her father, an influential judge. She graduated from her school in 1862 at the head of her class, and met her husband in the autumn of that year during the civil war - George Armstrong Custer and they married in 1864.
Once married, Libbie followed Custer wherever the army took them, refusing to be left behind. However, following the defeat of her husband’s column at the Battle of Little Big Horn - where he was also killed - many in the press, army and government placed the blame on Custer. Concerned that he was to be made a scapegoat by history, Libbie launched a one-woman campaign to save his image. She wrote many articles and gave talks - her three books Boots and Saddles (1885), Following the Guidon (1890) and Tenting on the Plains (1890) were considered brilliant pieces of literature aimed at glorifying her husband’s memory. Her efforts were hugely successful, and her portrayal of him is fixed in American lore.
Libbie never remarried, and after an initial period of difficulty dealing with Custer’s debts, she spent the rest of her life in comfort as a result of her literary career and lecture tours. She died in New York, four days before her 91st birthday, in 1933, and was buried beside her husband. Before her death, she told a writer that her greatest disappointment was that she never had a son to bear her husband’s name.
The statue used to be on the seal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS), one of the oldest associations of plastic surgeons in the world.
8th April 1842 - Elizabeth ‘Libbie’ Bacon was born in Monroe Michigan. Her three siblings and mother died before she was 13, and as the only surviving child she was doted on by her father, an influential judge. She graduated from her school in 1862 at the head of her class, and met her husband in the autumn of that year during the civil war - George Armstrong Custer and they married in 1864.
Once married, Libbie followed Custer wherever the army took them, refusing to be left behind. However, following the defeat of her husband’s column at the Battle of Little Big Horn - where he was also killed - many in the press, army and government placed the blame on Custer. Concerned that he was to be made a scapegoat by history, Libbie launched a one-woman campaign to save his image. She wrote many articles and gave talks - her three books Boots and Saddles (1885), Following the Guidon (1890) and Tenting on the Plains (1890) were considered brilliant pieces of literature aimed at glorifying her husband’s memory. Her efforts were hugely successful, and her portrayal of him is fixed in American lore.
Libbie never remarried, and after an initial period of difficulty dealing with Custer’s debts, she spent the rest of her life in comfort as a result of her literary career and lecture tours. She died in New York, four days before her 91st birthday, in 1933, and was buried beside her husband. Before her death, she told a writer that her greatest disappointment was that she never had a son to bear her husband’s name.