Hellenistic Greek. c. 190 B.C.E. Marble. Samothrace, Greece. (Aegean).
The winged goddess of Victory standing on the prow of a ship overlooked the Sanctuary of the Great Gods on the island of Samothrace. This monument was probably an ex-voto offered by the people of Rhodes in commemoration of a naval victory in the early second century BC. The theatrical stance, vigorous movement, and billowing drapery of this Hellenistic sculpture are combined with references to the Classical period-prefiguring the baroque aestheticism of the Pergamene sculptors.
Form/Function
- statue itself is over nine feet tall
- made of Thasian and Parian marble
- was found in the temple complex on the island of Samothrace called the Sanctuary of the Great Gods
- this was one of the principle Pan-Hellenistic sanctuaries
- associated with Mystery religion
- statue was an ex-voto (votive offering to a deity) most likely given by the people of Rhodes to commemorate a naval victory
- the offering would have also served to gain the deities favor, protecting sailors and armies against storms and enemies
Context
- currently resides in the Louvre, in Paris France
- was made around the 2nd century BCE during the Hellenistic period
- the sculptor is unknown
- the Hellenistic period followed the death of Alexander the Great when the Greek kingdom got split up, so the constant warring between city-states and other kingdoms increased the emphasis on Nike, who would spread the message of a victory
- would have looked out over the Parthenon in the sanctuary, with natural winds from the coast seeming to enliven Nike's clothes
- stands on the prow of a huge marble ship
- had huge impact on the traditions of Western Art that followed
Content
- depicts Nike, who was the messenger goddess of victory
- is missing her head and both arms, but may have been holding a trumpet or cupping her hand around her mouth to announce a naval victory
- "violent motion and sudden stillness meet"
- was meant to be viewed from three-quarters to the statue's right-hand side, evidenced because the other side is not as intricately carved
- gone is the stiff, more classical style of antiquity; in its place is a Hellenistic passion and voluptuousness
- texture is created in the intricate carvings of the wings
- she is not nude, but her clothing is coming off to reveal her body, which was typical for sculpture of the time
- the intense, intricate sculpting of her clothes, of how it drapes, adds to the sense of motion in the piece
- carved in extreme detail: we can tell where the cloth is thicker/thinner, and where it sticks to her skin because it is
- wet with sea water
- the way her body is sculpted creates a spiraling effect: her wings reach back, her chest forward, her feet down
- looking from the perspective from which it was meant to be viewed, follows the form of a right triangle (can see this in the picture on the bottom left
Sources:
http://www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/winged-victory-samothrace
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/greek-art/hellenistic/v/nike-winged-victory-of-samothrace-c-190-b-c-e
