Winged Victory Of Samothrace Analysis

The Winged Victory of Samothrace, also referred to as the Nike of Samothrace, is a marble Hellenistic sculpture of The Greek goddess of victory, Nike. Created in 190 BC by an unknown artist and constructed with parian marble, it stands at 5.57 meters although the goddess herself stands only at 2.75 meters. The sculpture was discovered in 1863 on the island of Samothrace on a French exploration led by amateur archaeologist Charles Champoiseau. In its original setting, the Nike was mounted on the prow of a stone ship in a temple, and was assumed to be overlooking the sanctuary of the great gods on the island of Samothrace. The sculpture has been displayed at the most distinguished museum in the world, the Louvre, in Paris, since 1884. Even in its current condition, this sculpture continues to inspire many across the globe with its vision of victory and triumph.

Victory Stele of Naram-Sin is a relief sculpture and was created in 2,200 B.C.E it is 6 feet high, so it is huge. The subject only includes men, and they are dressed for battle. This particular artwork was an illustration of Naram-Sin with his army and how his “enemies [would] fall, flee, die, or beg for mercy” (Kleiner 41). Naram-Sin is the largest figure, about twice the size of the other figures. In addition, he has a helmet with horns and weapons. There is a background in this relief, and it includes a mountain with a tree and there are two stars.

The Winged Victory (Nike) of Samothrace is a powerful statue built by the Greeks around 190 BC. She was discovered on the Island of Samothrace in the northern Aegean. This statue stands at 10.76 feet which is very tall for a woman. She stood on the bow of a ship, poised and ready for action. The sculpture procures the strength and beauty of a woman. The pose, constitution, and her make up all contribute to the works powerful statement.

This paper will focus on the Statue of Dionysos leaning on a female figure. Also known as the Hope Dionysos. The statue is displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art and is located on the first floor Roman and Greek art chamber. Upon entering this sector, you will notice a grand statue that catches your eyes and captivates you as it welcomes you in gracefully. The exhibition is set up in the back center of the room, and is noticeable due to the largeness in scale and the enigmatic yet calming disposition the statue portrays. My first impression of the sculpture was how detailed and realistic the statue is. Since the statue was so defined you would be able to identify what he was wearing and how his body was shaped to how long his hair was during this time period. I was profoundly intrigued by how peaceful the statue of Dionysos embodied and found myself coming back to it and looking in awe. In curiosity, I would choose this statue for my assignment because I wanted to learn more about the history of the Hope Dionysos. In this essay I will be describing my formal analysis of the artwork, the subject matter behind it, the artist and the historical content of the statue of Dionysos.

Various pieces of art found thousands of years ago depict characters based on certain events and legends. I will be analyzing two works of art: The Sound Box of the Great Lyre, a wooden music box (33 x 11 cm) found in present-day Iraq c. 2600-2500 BCE, and Lapith Fighting a Centaur, a high metope relief (1.42 m) on the side of the Parthenon in Ancient Greece c. 447-432 BCE. The former represents a bull with a low relief under its head, depicting animals mimicking the lifestyle of humans. The latter exemplifies a nude man struggling against a mythical creature that is half-man half-horse2. Although these works are from across the world with completely different cultures, they both have similar

Throughout the Ancient Greek world, there have been many wars and standoffs. However, there has been only one which changed the course of Greek history forever; the Peloponnesian War. Caused by the growing tension between Athens and Sparta, it came and left, leaving only destruction in its wake. The defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War caused the downfall of Greece, and the end of the Classical Age.

A formal analysis, contextualizing, and compare and contrast of the Egyptian sculpture of Isis nurturing Horus and the Byzantine icon, The Virgin of Vladimir

Ancient sculptures bring on endless philosophical arguments regarding what is an appropriate form of perfection, defined as a fit body guided by a keen mind. This paper will approach a visual essence of the sculpture of The Lansdowne Athlete, by Lysippos, Rome 340-330 B.C. marble after a bronze original, that I viewed at the LACMA. This sculpture is located in the left wing of Greek exhibition Building, 3rd floor. I selected this sculpture as an example of an idealized body. Therefore, I will be explaining the historical background of the sculpture and address why I think it would make a good addition to our text. I will provide an analogy with other sculpture of idealized body from our textbook chapter 12 on “Mind and Body” mainly. I will impart more information about the essence of idealized human form as well as cultural ideals during this time period in Greece.

Phidias’s piece titled Relief of a Falling Warrior (Roman, 2nd Century A.D.) represents a wounded warrior collapses to the ground after being struck from behind in the Trojan War (Google Arts & Culture). The relief sculpture is created in Roman Republic by the famous Greek sculptor Phidias, also known as Pheidias. He was a Greek sculpture, painter, Architect, and is often credited as the main creator of the Classical Greek sculptural design. The Relief of a Falling Warrior statue stood inside the Parthenon on the Acropolis in Athens. (Art) A series of panels copying figures were found commissioned for Roman buyers, however, the shipment sank in Piraeus, Athens' harbor where they were

Its architecture has Greek form with a high structure of marble that shows off a large frieze portraying an epic battle on the base’s walls. The cracked figures on the frieze fight violently against each other, and even with the test of time, their features are descriptive and their faces show much varied expression. The most impressive part of the Altar of Zeus is the sculptural frieze depicting the struggle of the gods and the giants. It is clear on the altar’s frieze’s that the artist/sculpture of the alter worked towards a natural view of the characters on them, borrowed from the classical period but sculpted them to be in more of realistic portrayal. The construction of a frieze seemed to be a fairly popular architectural enhancement at the time; this outer frieze is one of the most famous. The sculpted figures on it create a new height of Greek realistic representations and architecture in modeling, composition, and expression of emotion. The emotions of the figures are one of the aesthetics that makes the frieze so unique and beautiful. As the battle scene is unified; the winning and losing sides are clearly cut. The artist makes the battle and its characters easily perceivable. The look of suffering in defeat is on all the giants’ twisted faces. Drastically opposite is Zeus and his fellow gods who are seen as completely expressionless. The overall style of the frieze is very intense, to say the

This “golden age” began after the Greek victory over Persia during the Persian War (546 – 479 BCE) and came to a decline after the Peloponnesian War (431 – 404 BCE). During this time period, the Grecian states were well renowned in cultural and political status. Greece excelled in government, philosophy, art, poetry and drama. The Golden Age also marked the creation of democracy in Athens. Theaters promoted famous playwrights, architecture including the Parthenon art and sculptures was created, and famous philosophers including Plato and Socrates significantly impacted the thought processes of that time.

Hellenistic art was engaged more on perfection of the human frame, accuracy and detail. Models from Greek times looked more God-like than human. Hellenic art depended on the new thought of authenticity. Hellenic figures were molded into sensible, blamed human structures. Art in the Hellenic world art epitomized richness, cheerful nature, and coarse with. Marble statues and reliefs described human greatness and sensuality. Art in Hellenistic world emphasize extraordinary naturalism and unashamed luxury. Art in Hellenistic and Hellenic showed feelings and other components filled with different

Due to Alexander’s great conquests into Egypt and Asia, money was plentiful for the Greeks and new cities had to be built and beautified. This is where we first see new cities being laid out on grids which were introduced by Hippodumus of Miletus in fifth century B.C. However this is just one accomplishment in architecture during the Hellenistic Age. One place we see a change from Classical Greece to Hellenistic is how architects began to move away from the balanced tension and idealism that we saw in the fifth century B.C. With this, they moved toward the sentimental, emotional and realistic mode of the fourth century B.C. One place where we see this is in the marble statue called the Laocoon (see pg. 89) which was carved in Rhodes in the second century B.C. and then later taken to

In Mary Beard’s book, The Roman Triumph, she explores one of the most interesting victory celebrations of the ancient world. Instead of having a small gathering, or even a raucous party, Romans brought what they had seized and carted it through the city. They even brought some people they had captured so that the crowd could know exactly who they triumphed against. This celebration gives historians a view into the Romans lifestyle. Roman triumphs also show what values were important to the Romans and where they found their significance. Using Mary Beard’s book I will demonstrate the nature of Roman triumphs by giving examples from Pompey’s triumph in 61BC, what these triumphs tell historians about the Roman world and why they are significant, and what they tell us about the values the Romans held dear.

Charles Champoiseau uncovered pieces of masterfully worked Parian marble in April of 1863.1 On Samothraki, the island from which Poseidon is said to have watched the fall of Troy, these segments of stone came together to form four main sections: a torso, a headless bust, a section of drapery, and a wing.2 The sections were shaped to be assembled though the use of cantilevering and metal dowels, allowing the sculptor to extend beyond medium’s gravitational limitations (fig. 2). Just one year later, the pieces were assembled (and those missing were remodeled), and the Greek goddess Nike was revealed at the Louvre.