This marble, one of the most noticeable and interesting in the Louvre,
is a colossal fragment of a winged Victory discovered in 1863 on the
Island of Samothrace. The head, arms and feet are lacking. The statue
must originally have been at least twelve feet high.
The figure seems sweeping down through the air and in the very act of
alighting. Every fold in the floating garment has a direct purpose,
at first indistinctly manifest, then widening and finally lost in the
general mass.
The pediment on which the statue stood represents the prow of a ship,
and makes it clear that it was executed to commemorate a naval victory
of the Athenians off Cyprus, 306 B. C. As restored by Zumbusch, Nike
holds in one hand a trumpet and in the other a rod intended to support
the trophies.
[Illustration]