Six Greek sculptors . e to commemorate a naval victory ;the goddess was represented as standing on the prow ofa ship, holding a trumpet to her lips with one hand,and with the other carrying a trophy over her details, so far as they cannot be seen in theextant portions of the statue, may be learnt from areproduction of the figure which is found on contem-porary coins. She appears to have just alighted on theship, and her wings are half folded. Her rich draperyis swept against and away from her limbs by the rush ofthe wind, as she leans forward to meet it. The wholecomposition is
Six Greek sculptors . e to commemorate a naval victory ;the goddess was represented as standing on the prow ofa ship, holding a trumpet to her lips with one hand,and with the other carrying a trophy over her details, so far as they cannot be seen in theextant portions of the statue, may be learnt from areproduction of the figure which is found on contem-porary coins. She appears to have just alighted on theship, and her wings are half folded. Her rich draperyis swept against and away from her limbs by the rush ofthe wind, as she leans forward to meet it. The wholecomposition is full of imposing vigour and dramaticforce; even in its damaged condition it makes an over-whelming impression, and this must have been evenmore vivid when the figure was complete, and was setup in the open air amid suitable surroundings. The halfturn of the body above the waist, which gives varietyand life to the pose, is a favourite device in Hellenisticart; and the tempestuous lines of the drapery, as it Plate LXXIX. VICTORY, FROM SAMOTHBACE, IN THE LOUVRE To face p. 246 HELLENISTIC SCULPTURE 247 is blown across and across the figure, enhances thefeeling of exultant haste with which the goddess pro-claims her joyful tidings. It is instructive to noticethe difference that has come over the spirit of Greeksculpture between the time of this Victory and theVictory by Paeonius, set up at Olympia some two anda half centuries earlier. There we see the messengerof the gods, floating calmly down from Olympus tocarry their award; and the simple and dignified treat-ment is in accordance with this conception of thesubject. The Victory of Samothrace, on the otherhand, seems to bear the impress of the stress andstorm of the combat from which she has come. If thegods became human in the fourth century, in theHellenistic age, men themselves, following Alexander,were raised to the position of gods, and the victoriesthey won were marked by their own restless seems peculiarly fitting
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookpublis, booksubjectsculptors
