Medici Venus once had different looks

PanARMENIAN.Net - Red lipstick once shimmered on the lips of the Medici Venus, according to chemical analysis on the 2,000-year-old marble statue representing the Greek goddess of love Aphrodite.

The investigation, carried out at the University of Modena and Reggio and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, where the statue has been on display since 1677, indicates that the life-sized naked and sensual Venus originally had red lips and hair laminated with gold.

These features were meant to represent the Venus "in a very realistic way," Fabrizio Paolucci, head of the Uffizi's classical antiquities department, said.

To strengthen the effect, the naked statue also wore precious earrings, as newly discovered earlobe holes suggest, LiveScience reported.