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Top 5 Interesting Facts about the Winged Victory of Samothrace

Sculpture of Samothrace in the Louvre, image sourced from Pixabay

Picture yourself in the Louvre, discovering the vast and rich Antiquity collections, venturing through Pharaonic Egypt, Ancient Greece then Ancient Rome, making your way up to the first floor to resume your journey in the past, and suddenly, stopping and staring because here she is: at the top of the large immaculate stairs, bathed under the light of a circle-shaped glass-ceiling, a three-meter high marble sculpture of a headless, armless, winged-woman standing gloriously on the bow of a ship.

You guessed it: you are facing the famous Winged Victory of Samothrace. After a moment of awe, you may start to wonder what it exactly represents and how it came to be so famous. So here are five interesting facts that will improve your understanding of this Greek masterpiece !

Fact n掳1 : The Victory of Samothrace is a monument celebrating a naval victory.

The Greeks started very early on to represent concepts such as Peace, Justice or Revenge under the form of female figures. Victory 鈥� Nik茅 in Ancient Greek 鈥� is one of these allegories, taking the shape of a winged goddess, sometimes blowing a trumpet.

Why ? Because she was meant to be a messenger, flying over the Earth to spread the news of an athletic or military victory and bringing the winners the symbols of their triumph (crowns or trophies, for instance).

In the case of the Winged Victory of Samothrace, the goddess looks like she just landed on the bow of a ship. Indeed, the sculpture celebrated a naval battle which must have occurred at the beginning of the 2nd century B.C.

At the time, during the Hellenistic period, Alexander the Great’s successors were constantly fighting to take control over the Aegean Sea. The base of the statue thus recalls the warships typically used in this era.

Facte n掳2 : The sculpture was born and praised in Samothrace.

Though the marble used to build the statue came from Paros and the one used for the bow from Rhodes, the sculpture itself was created in a third Greek island: Samothrace, located in the nothern part of the Aegean Sea.

Island of Samothraki, sourced from VisitGreece.gr

Throughout Ancient Greece, Samothrace was especially known for its Sanctuary of the Great Gods, where many pilgrims would come to receive an initiation hoping to obtain divine protection. The Great Gods were particularly considered as benefactors for sailors and it was believed that invoking them would keep the risk of shipwrecks at bay and favor naval victories.

This is why, during the Hellenistic period, the Macedonian kings took great care to make offerings to them. The Winged Victory of Samothrace is thus believed to be one of them, thanking the Gods after a naval victory.

Fact n掳3 : The Victory of Samothrace was slowly pieced back together over time.

It is only in the XIXth century that the sculpture reappeared. In 1863, Charles Champoiseau, a French diplomat and amateur archeologist, endeavoured a series of excavations in Samothrace and found, somewhat intact amongst the Sanctuary’s ruins, the bottom part of the statue, whereas the rest was in pieces.

You knew that the Victory of Samothrace stood headless and armless in the Louvre, but did you know that she actually first entered the museum in 1866 without a bust and wings either? One of the reasons the sculpture grew to become so famous worldwide may reside in its slow recomposition over time 鈥� The Winged Victory of Samothrace regaining her two thousand-year-old magnificience piece by piece.

Indeed, in 1875, Austrian archeologists gave back its pedestal to the statue, understanding that the marble blocks found in the ruins, left out by Champoiseau, actually formed the bow of a ship. In 1884, the statue is entirely restored by the Louvre for the first time 鈥� bust, wings and bow included.

Sculpture of Samothrace in the Louvre, image sourced from Wikimedia Commons

To this day, her head and arms remain lost, though American archeologists discovered her hand in 1950, which is also exhibited in the museum.

Fact n掳4 : It is a masterpiece of Hellenistic Art.

Looking at the Winged Victory of Samothrace from afar is already impressive by the sheer grandeur of this five meter high sculpture, especially enhanced by the architectural frame the Louvre offers it ; but looking at it more closely is even more astonishing.

The way its creator managed to carve out of solid marble the impression of movement and lightness makes it a masterpiece. If the statue’s position succeeds in suggesting that the goddess just landed from a victorious flight, the detailed work on the pieces of cloth covering her figure effectively conveys the idea that wind is blowing on her. Indeed, her dress is sticking to her body, so much so that her stomach is revealed through the fabric.

Sculpture of Samothrace in the Louvre, image sourced from Louvre official website

The Greeks had a taste for sculpted, wet-looking, wind-blown draperies at the time, and the Victory of Samothrace remains by far the greatest example we still get to marvel at.

Fact n掳5 : The Victory of Samothrace – one of the Louvre’s Pop Culture icons !

The sculpture started to gain tremendous attention when the Louvre decided, at the end of the XIXth century, to place it at the top of the museum’s principal stairs, next to the main entrance of the time.

The Victory of Samothrace thus welcomed generation after generation of visitors and became one of the Louvre’s most emblematic pieces of art, next to Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. As such, it left a mark on popular culture.

It influenced the French sculptor Abel Lafleur who created the FIFA World Cup’s trophy in her image in 1929, which was renamed as the Jules Rimet Trophy.

Trophy stored in the National Football Museum in Manchester, UK, image sourced from Culture24.org.uk

Furthermore, in 1971, the American designer Carolyn Davidson completely rebranded the Blue Ribbon Sports Company, by renaming it after the goddess’s name 鈥� Nike 鈥� and by referring to her wing through the new logo’s shape, the famous 鈥渟woosh鈥�.

Image sourced from Pixabay

Lastly, it is no wonder that Beyonce and Jay Z would chose to give such a prominent place to the sculpture within their 鈥淎peshit鈥� music video filmed in the Louvre. What better piece of art to express one’s individual success than this iconic allegory of Victory ?

Now that you know more, enjoy marveling at the Winged Victory of Samothrace in person during your next visit of the Louvre (you can reserve skip-the-line tickets now)