Victory for three-quarters left

Victory of Samothrace (in Greek / is a Greek sculpture of the Hellenistic period , representing the goddess Nike , the personification of victory. It is currently preserved at the Louvre.

Discovery

General plan of the Sanctuary of the Great Gods of Samothrace , the statue was at ^No. 9

The statue was discovered in pieces on 15 April 1863 on the island of Samothrace , by Charles Champoiseau , Vice-Consul of France acting in Adrianople , during an exploration mission The statue is then restored in this model, that is to say with a trumpet in hand. However, the discovery in 1950 by Jean Charbonneau of a right hand contradicted this theory wide open and fingers outstretched, the hand does not attribute .

The records can also show that the monument was placed diagonally in a rectangular exedra located at the end of a terrace on a hillside overlooking the scene of the shrine of the Great Gods . The normal view of the statue is his three-quarters left, as evidenced by the significant discrepancy between finishing both sides of the statue - the one on the right is very rudimentary . On these bases, and using some models (right wing, left breast, back of the bust), a complete reconstruction is performed at the Louvre in 1884. The statue is placed on the upper landing of the staircase Daru, where it still is.

All

Victory

The statue is of white marble, probably from Paros. It represents a winged woman, the personification of Victory, wearing a chiton belted flap in the breast, very fine fabric, revealing the curves of the body partially covered with a himation (cloak) and wound on the size discovering the left leg. The wind plate clothing against the body and inflates the chiton at the rear: Victory is represented in the process of landing on the deck. In return the most commonly accepted, it raises his right arm, presumably to announce the victory, while his other arm is brought back along the body. Maybe it was a trophy, as the stylistic (rear shaft) of an enemy ship .

Victory is composed of six blocks of marble worked separately: body, torso, two arms and two wings. This trick is widely used by Greek sculptors, saves material costs: it is easier to extract small blocks only one major. Gold Victory measure 2.38 m in height - 3.28 m wings included - about 1.5 times the natural height . The blocks are joined together by bronze studs.

The ship and the base

The ship shown is typical Rhodian: it is a / trirmiola, a small warship long, without a bridge with two rows of oars and a half, the Spurs side and front, above an outcrop, a spur curved bottom and a bow. In its current state, it lacks the two spurs to the ship before and ornament of the curved bow, which changes the general shape of the whole.

The boat and the base are marble Lartos, gray-veined white, Rhodian origin. The base itself consists of six panels on which three rows of stacked blocks - a total of fifteen and sixteenth fragments - held together by studs, the ship listed. The second row splits to represent funds oars. The statue stood on the top row.

Dating and attribution

Relief carving, depicting a ship, signed Pythocritos on the wall of the Acropolis of Lindos

We have no evidence on the ancient statue. It can therefore be dated in terms of its style. It was initially considered that monnaires Demetrius Poliorcetes represented the monument itself, the king would have built in commemoration of his naval victory. At this point, the statue is attributed to a sculptor of the late ^fourth century or early ^third century BC. AD , for example a student Scopas , who worked at Samothrace. However, Samothrace is then under the control of Lysimachus , Demetrius enemy: it seems unlikely that he was able to dedicate a monument .

The discovery of monuments shaped boat Lindos , a town of Rhodes , the type of boat is the origin of the marble and the base then make a finding Rhodian monument in commemoration of a victory as that of Cos (v. 261 BC. ) of Side or even Myonnisos (both in 190 BC. ) .

The period is the period of activity Pythocritos sculptor, son of Timocharis mentioned by Pliny and multiple databases listed, known as the author of one of the monuments of the Acropolis of Lindos. Champoiseau had found gold in 1892 in the immediate vicinity of the statue, a marble fragment Lartos signed "... / S RHODIOS ..." , which may correspond to "Pythocritos Rhodes. However, its relationship with the exedra containing the Victory was not justified , especially, the presence of a bowl of embedding small forbidden to see something other than a statuette base .

Another hypothesis is of a votive statue of Antigonus II Gonatas after his victory against the Ptolemies at Cos , in the year 250 BC. BC It is known that Antigone dedicated a statue in Delos : it might have to spend another Samothrace sanctuary under the protection of traditional Antigonids .

Finally, some have also compared the victory to characters from the frieze of the Pergamon Altar , which was then very famous sculptors .

Notes

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