aka The Nike of Samothrace

About The Winged Victory of Samothrace
Modern excavations suggest that the Victory occupied a niche in an open-air amphitheater and also suggest it served as an altar, within view of the ship monument of Demetrius I Poliorcetes (337-283 BC). It stood on a rostral pedestal of gray marble from Lartos representing the prow of a ship, and represents the goddess as she descends from the skies to the triumphant fleet. Rendered in white Parian marble, the figure originally formed part of the Sanctuary of the Great Gods. Before losing her arms, which have never been recovered, Nike’s right arm was raised, either to bring a trumpet to her lips as she is depicted on contemporary coins or to crown the naval victor. The work is notable for its naturalistic pose and for the rendering of the figure’s draped garments, depicted as if rippling in a strong sea breeze, which is considered especially compelling.

The statue’s outstretched right wing is a symmetric plaster version of the original left one. Various other fragments have since been found: in 1950 one of the statue’s hands was found on Samothrace and is now in a glass case in the Louvre next to the podium on which the statue stands. As with the arms, the figure’s head has never been found. The statue now stands over a supplementary platform over the prow that allows a better contemplation but was not present in the original. The different degree of finishing of the sides has led scholars to think that it was intended to be seen from three-quarters on the left.

A partial inscription on the base of the statue includes the word “Rhodhios” (Rhodes), indicating that the statue was commissioned to celebrate a naval victory by Rhodes, at that time the most powerful maritime state in the Aegean.
The product of an unknown sculptor, presumably of Rhodian origin, the Victory is believed to date to between 220 and 190 BC. When first discovered on the island of Samothrace (in Greek, Σαμοθρακη — Samothraki) and published in 1863 it was suggested that the Victory was erected by the Macedonian general Demetrius I Poliorcetes after his naval victory at Cyprus between 295 and 289 BC. The Samothrace Archaeological Museum continues to follow these originally established provenance and dates. Ceramic evidence discovered in recent excavations has revealed that the pedestal was set up about 200 BC, though some scholars still date it as early as 250 BC or as late as 180. Certainly, the parallels with figures and drapery from the Pergamon Altar (dated about 170 BC) seem strong.

In April 1863, the Victory was discovered by the French consul and amateur archaeologist Charles Champoiseau, who sent it to Paris in the same year. The statue has been reassembled in stages since its discovery. The prow was reconstructed from marble debris at the site by Champoiseau in 1879 and assembled in situ before being shipped to Paris. Since 1884 it has dominated the Daru staircase displayed in the Louvre, while a plaster replica stands in the museum at the original location of the Sanctuary of the Great Gods on Samothrace. The discovery in 1948 of the hand raised in salute, which matched a fragment in Vienna, established the modern reconstruction — without trumpet — of the hand raised in epiphanic greeting. [Text from Wikipedia]