Winged Victory Of Samothrace Essay

1282 Words3 Pages

Mary Mitson
Laurie Olson-Horswill
English 216
10-23-2017
The Winged Victory of Samothrace
In the 19th century, an amateur archaeologist named Charles Champoiseau came across one part of a sanctuary that was hidden under ruble, while on that day he did not find the sanctuary; he did find a niche on the mountainside. In this niche was something that would create frenzy with archeologists everywhere. In this niche, Charles found a timeless tribute to the goddess Nike; it was a Sculpture by the name of The Winged Victory of Samothrace. In order to fully understand the importance of The Winged Victory of Samothrace we will need to learn about the island of Samothrace, the artisanship of the sculpture, and most importantly, the goddess Nike and her …show more content…

Most of the sculptures depicting her were constructed out of wood and encased in ivory and gold. There was a large emphasis of her bird like wings and wet thin draperies. While we still don’t know what naval battle spurred the Creation of The Winged Victory of Samothrace, we do know that the victory was mighty. It was so mighty, that rightly I assumed to know that the sculpture felt the Goddess Nike’s presents was with them. With great honor and thanks to the goddess The Winged Victory of Samothrace was born. The sculpture, carved from Parian marble, depicts the winged Nike. She stands tall to be over ten and a half feet; her wet and opaque drapery layered around her body as if the wind was only slightly present. She was set to pose ever so dramatically, her wings where stretched out behind her, She Stands confident and proud on the prow of a ship that was carved from gray marble from Lartos. The base of the ship even showed evidence suggesting that there may have been an artificial pool that the sculpture created. This pool could be filled with water so that ship may appear to be weightless and floating. While her head and arms are still lost to us, she is a truly the perfect representation of the Hellenistic times in which she was brought to

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