Milo of Croton

In 1670 Puget found in the dockyards at Toulon two blocks of marble which had been abandoned there, and after some difficulty he got Colbert's permission to use them for statues. From them he carved the Milo of Crotona and the relief of Alexander and Diogenes.

The Milo is perhaps Puget's most remarkable work. It has the qualities of emotional intensity which were already apparent in the door of the Hôtel de Ville at Toulon and the St Sebastian, but in addition it has a concentration and a geometrical regularity which are almost classical. In the Milo Puget invented a truly French Baroque.

The statue is Baroque in its violence of movement, in the sharp twist of the arm and head, in the naturalism of the tree trunk, which indicates that the artist must have known Bernini's Apollo and Daphne. But the movement is so carefully controlled that, seen from the front as it is meant to be seen, the whole statue forms a simple silhouette composed of two sets of parallel axes: the legs and left arm forming one set, and the torso, drapery, and tree trunk forming the other. The head and the mask are based on the Laocoon and have the degree of restraint apparent even in that most Baroque of ancient groups.

The Milo was taken to Versailles by Puget's son, François, and arrived there in 1683. After a moment of doubt it was approved by the King and given a prominent position in the gardens at Versailles.

You can view other depictions of Milo of Croton in the Web Gallery of Art.