“Pic of the Week”, May 22, 2020: The Nike of Samothrace, Paris

00 Nike of Samothrace

One of the more striking pieces in Paris’ Louvre, at least in my humble opinion, is this statue known as “Winged Victory”, or the “Nike of Samothrace”.  It’s an ancient work dating to around 200 BC, and originates from Samothrace, a Greek island in the north Aegean Sea.  Its creator is not known.
The marble statue stands nearly 8 ft tall and depicts Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, wind-blown with her garments clinging to her, triumphantly stepping toward the front of a ship.  The work was probably created to commemorate a successful sea battle.
The statue was unearth by French diplomat and budding archaeologist, Charles Champoiseau, in 1863.  He reassembled the 23 blocks that comprise the ship and sent the figure …

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