Nike of Samothrace

See the source image

Winged Victory

The name of this towering, 18 foot Parian marble sculpture, is Nike of Samothrace, also known as, Winged Victory. When I first read the name Winged Victory, the words, "sweet, sweet, sweet, victory... yeah!" came into mind, reminding me of the song, "Sweet Victory" from the SpongeBob SquarePants episode, Band Geeks. 

The song "Sweet Victory" came to mind, because that song represents, the feeling of victory, and how victory is achieved. Which is what the Nike of Samothrace represents, being named after the ancient goddess Nike, who was the embodiment of victory.

The Nike of Samothrace or Winged Victory, is part of the Hellenistic period, which defined a time where art was more focused on emotion, and sadness: visualizing other aspects of art, rather than idealizing figures. The Nike of Samothrace was discovered in pieces, all was found but the head, and arms. Charles Champoiseau, discovered Winged Victory in 1863 on the Greek island of Samothrace. Giving this unique statue its name, the Nike of Samothrace, that looks to be standing over the bow of a boat, as if showing the victory of a naval battle, possibly from the Battle of Salamis, in which Greeks and Persian forces battled. Looking at the pose, we call see how much detail was placed in the front of the sculpture. Giving the feeling, that wind is really being pressed against her body; looking at the detail from the clothing, wrapping around her, gives me the feeling of wind being brush past my body. 

While the remains of this statue may never be recovered, artist have drawn what they think the entire statue, might look like. As for how I imagine the figure looking, I imagine her raising her left arm doing a fist pump, while the right arm is at her side holding a sword; looking through the perspective of the picture.



https://smarthistory.org/nike-winged-victory-of-samothrace/

https://www.ancient.eu/article/1412/winged-victory-the-nike-of-samothrace/

Comments

  1. Ashley MSeptember 9, 2020 at 5:49 PM

    Your enthusiasm made me want to read on. I like how you use personal experiences to relate to the statue. This is also an example of restoration where the right wing was replicated to mirror the left wing. In my opinion, the most striking thing about this piece is the care the artist used in creating the folds of the material. You really can feel the wind and sea spray as she guides the ship home. It's rather remarkable how life like a piece of marble can be. Of course, I can't see her face, but we can imagine that it would be as detailed and regal as the rest of her.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bronze statue of Eros sleeping

Image
This is known as the, Bronze statue of Eros Sleeping, from the 3rd century B.C.-early 1st century A.D.;  Hellenistic period. This bronze statue of Eros, is unlike any other statues of Gods, as Gods are often portrayed as heroic, with dynamic poses. Here we see Eros a primeval God the son of Chaos, as an infant, different from past sculptures. As Eros the God  of love, desire, and sexual love,  is often characterized as youthful, cruel and careless with his abilities that make others fall in love. But in this seven piece statue,  made up of the head, arms, legs, wings, body, and drapery.  Eros is seen as a sleeping babe, showing the purity, and innocence of love. As in the statue we can see the sincerity and calmness shown through his chubby body, through the flaps of skin overlapping; giving a feeling of naturalism throughout the piece.  Being seen as a harmless babe, people might think Eros is Cupid, except Eros is a Greek God, while Cupid was based off of Eros, with Cupid being a Rom
Read more

Lydenburg Heads

Image
(Lydenburg Heads, Lydenburg, South Africa ca. 500 A.D.) These heads are known as the Lydenburg Heads, each head dates back to about 500 A.D. Even though they're so old, there is little known about them. Except for this fact, these heads are the earliest forms of iron age art, south of the equator. But how were they found; surprisingly a ten-year-old boy named Ludwig von Bezing in 1957 discovered them. After playing on his father's ranch, he noticed some iron fragments in the dirt, at first he didn't pay too much attention to them. Ten years later after studying archeology Bezing returned to discover an important artifact. That is now known as the Lydenburg Heads, named after the location they were found.  While there is little information on these heads, the African people believe that these heads were used for religious purposes or ceremonies for children. Based on the size of these heads which are like tiny helmets that only children could use. Possibly, for inducting the
Read more

Similar Portraits? (Updated)

Image
Two Portraits: Juan de Pareja & Self-Portrait Art often has a grand purpose for its creation, to tell a story; in some cases more than others, a story is hard to come by, or, understand. Except in these two paintings: "Juan de Pareja"- Diego Rodrigues and "Self-Portrait"- Judith Leyster; have multiple things in common. As most paintings and art, are all similar in one way or another; these two are more similar than you think. If you know the reason they were created. (Diego Rodriguez, Juan de Pareja, 1650, The Met Fifth Avenue)  This first painting is from the Baroque, but the one in Spain. This is an oil painting by the artist Diego Rodriguez, called Juan de Pareja from 1650 which is now housed in The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 617. When this painting was first introduced it was said to have, "received such universal acclaim that in the opinion of all the painters of different nations everything else seemed like painting but this alone like truth." T
Read more