Nike of Samothrace
Artist Pythokritos of Rhodes (?)
Date ca. 190 BCE
Movement Greek | Hellenistic
Medium Marble
Height 7’6″
Provenance Sanctuary of the Great Gods at Samothrace
Housed at Musée du Louvre, Paris
This image depicts Winged Victory touching down on the bow of a warship. The beautifully carved garments harken back to the Three Deities in the Parthenon style: cleverly masking yet simultaneously revealing the body’s anatomy, and in true Hellenistic fashion, a great deal of movement from the rushing wind can be seen. The statue has an appearance of weightlessness, as though she has not yet touched down, helped of course by her seemingly weightless wings and billowing garments but also by an altered chiastic pose.
