Venus de Milo

Update 6/23/14: I used a compilation of photos of other people's prints of this model in a presentation to LACMA on February 3, 2014. Here's an adaptation of my presentation: * [3D Printing, 3D Capture, and Opportunities for Design Custodians](https://medium.com/@CosmoWenman/3d-printing-3d-capture-and-opportunities-for-design-custodians-7985097d2ac4).* Please share it with anyone you think might be interested -- Thanks.
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*"Supreme western works of art, like Oedipus Rex and Hamlet, preserve their indeterminacy through all interpretation. They are morally ungraspable. Even the Venus de Milo gained everything by losing her arms."* -- Camille Paglia, *Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson*
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In the 19th century, important works of sculptural art were reproduced in plaster. Artisans carefully made molds of the ancient originals, and high-quality reproductions were then cast in plaster to be bought, sold, and traded by museums, universities, art schools, and private collectors everywhere. Plaster casts of the 2nd century BC *Venus de Milo* were very popular, and would have been found in cast collections all over the world.

But the plaster cast tradition [faded](http://goo.gl/aFX84x) in the early 1900s. Cast collections were broken up, sold off piece by piece, and in some cases actually physically destroyed. Today there are only a few sizeable collections of plaster casts left in existence.

The…