19th Century Winged Victory or Nike of Samothrace

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A 19th century French patinated bronze sculpture of the Nike of Samothrace. Copied from The Winged Victory of Samothrace, also … Read more A 19th century French patinated bronze sculpture of the Nike of Samothrace. Copied from The Winged Victory of Samothrace, also called the Nike of Samothrace, a marble Hellenistic sculpture of Nike (the Greek goddess of victory), that was created about the 2nd century BC. Since 1884, it has been prominently displayed at the Louvre and is one of the most celebrated sculptures in the world. H.W. Janson described it as "the greatest masterpiece of Hellenistic sculpture", and it is one of a small number of major Hellenistic statues surviving in the original, rather than Roman copies. This magnificent and patinated version is a late 19th century French "Grand Tour" sculpture that retains its original gilded application. Removed from a North Shore Garden, it has a strong feeling of works by Augustus Saint-Gaudens as well it should as the original served as inspiration for Saint-Gaudens' 1903 equestrian statue of General William Tecumseh Sherman in Grand Army Plaza, New York City, depicts a robed, winged Nike leading Sherman while holding a palm branch, as a symbol of his victory in the Civil War and the peace to follow. Bearing a French Export mark and retains its original patina and purposefully applied "remnant" gilding. Stunning in a garden or in an entrance foyer. See less