Voutier was the son of a naval officer, and at the age of fifteen entered the Naval School in Brest. In April 1820, at the age of twenty-three he was an ensign on the French naval schooner
Estafette stopping at the island in
Milos in the Aegean. He was interested in the history of ancient Greece, and decided to see if he could find any objects of interest. He took two sailors with shovels and picks, and began digging in the ruins of an ancient theater located on the side of the island's highest hill. Voutier and the sailors found marble fragments, a bust, a carved foot, and two statues missing their heads, hands and feet. While Voutier was searching, he witnessed a Greek farmer discover part of a sculpture. Voutier encouraged the farmer to continue digging, and he eventually unearthed the marble sculpture of the Venus, in two large parts, alongside a few other sculptural fragments. Contrary to some accounts, the statue did not have its arms when it was discovered, as shown in drawings that Voutier made of the statue at the time. The farmer, whose name was Yorgos Ketrotas, was interested in selling the statue. Over the next ten days, Voutrier brought Louis Brest, the French vice-consul on Milos, to see what he had found, along with a number of sailors and naval officers. One was a naval officer named
Jules Dumont d'Urville. D'Urville, a classicist, recognized the identity of the statue and the importance of the discovery. However, the Captain of the
Chevrette would not take the statue onto the ship. D'Urville wrote to the French Ambassador in
Constantinople, the
Marquis de Riviere, then went in person and persuaded him to buy the statue for France, which he did. A ship was sent to take the statue back to
Toulon, and in 1821, the statue was presented to King
Louis XVIII, who in turn donated it to the Louvre. == Greek War of Independence ==