Monday, May 29, 2023

THE WINGED VICTORY ( NIKE ) OF SAMOTHRACE IN LOUVRE MUSEUM , PARIS


                                          


VISIT  TO LOUVRE MUSEUM ,PARIS ...... THE WINGED VICTORY ( NIKE )  OF SAMOTHRACE.

(Lying on a raised platform on  Daru staircase in  Denon Wing (Level 1)  just as you go up to see Mona Lisa )

"The Winged Victory Is  one of the Louvre’s most popular exhibits. It is  one of the most celebrated sculptures on earth. The monument was found on the island of Samothrace, in the sanctuary of the ‘Great Gods’ to whom people prayed for protection from the dangers of the sea. "
That is what the guide told a group of visitors from  England . I kept listening carefully although the guide wasn't pleased with me for listening him free .

Standing at the top of a staircase in the Musée du Louvre in Paris, the Nike of Samothrace looks down over her admiring crowds. One of the most revered artworks of Hellenistic Greek art, the Nike has been on display in the Louvre since 1866 ( discovered in 1863 ) .

Nike was both the goddess of victory and the personification of victory itself, in both war and athletic competitions. She was regularly featured in Greek art, appearing on pots, architectural sculpture, and free-standing sculptural compositions, either singly or in multiple. Her iconography is distinctive—a winged, youthful woman—and she is one of the most easily identifiable Greek mythological figures.  She was the perfect subject to commemorate military triumphs and was regularly featured in victory monuments, notably the fifth-century Nike of Paionios, erected at the Sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia to celebrate a Peloponnesian War victory. 

Created  around 295 and 290 BC, the broken sculpture ,"The Winged Victory of Samothrace"  , as I learnt , was brought to Loure in the  19th century from an island in Greece  where it was discovered . This sculpture  is of Hellenistic period. The beauty of the sculpture is the positioning . The stance is asymmetrical, the anatomy is quite natural and the movement depicted in the stance is realistic. Known as contrapposto (“counterpose”), this pose implies movement through the use of realistic weight distribution and an S-shaped body. Other famous sculptures that depict this classical approach to conveying the human body are The Walking Man by Rodin and   Michelangelo's David. I also learnt  that this sculpture  has inspired countless artists including  Salvador Dalí and  Umberto Boccioni .
It is not known who made the Winged Victory of Samothrace, but it is believed to have been ordered to be built sometime between 295 and 290 BC as a celebration of some war victory by some Greek king .

Nike is wearing a long tunic of fine cloth, which falls and folds to her feet. The fabric is gathered by two belts, one hidden by the folds which hang over the hips and a second strap beneath the breast area. The garment’s flowing folds are portrayed with great skill. The beautiful cloth tunic is in striking contrast with the thick, deeply carved draped folds of the cloak on Nike’s back. The body of the figure is visibly physical and sexual at the same time. The artist created that effect by giving her a strong presence, which is complemented by the transparency of her stone clothing. Her belly button and breasts are visible through her shirt (in stone), which feels impossible. This is surely a great sculpture  by  some unknown artist. This is what an art critic wrote about this sculpture in Louvre ;-

"The sculpture consists of two parts, a large ship’s bow made of grey marble and a free-standing white marble statue with the overall composition rising more than eighteen feet (Nike alone is nine feet tall). The flying personification of victory (nikē in Greek means victory) alights on top of the ship, announcing a naval triumph. Her wings stretch dramatically behind her. A forceful wind blows her drapery across her body, gathering it in heavy folds between her legs, around her waist, and streaming behind her, conveying a vivid illusion of movement. Thin and gauzy across her breasts, abdomen, and legs, this same drapery reveals her body underneath the clothing, creating an erotised vision of the female form."

Similar to other Hellenistic artworks, Nike is intended to be viewed from multiple angles, encouraging the viewer to move around the statue , and through this interaction engage with the artwork physically and emotionally. The statue is breathtaking, but broken and incomplete. Some 110 fragments were unearthed, but there was no sign of her head or her arms. The guide told that a hand was located in 1950. The hand is displayed separately. From the scrutiny of her hand, we find the fingers  outstretched , indicating that she may have been making a gesture of greeting. I was also told that the goddess must also have a crown that appears to have been broken and lost.

An archaeological excavation on the Greek island of Samothrace, led by an amateur French archaeologist, unearthed the giant winged statue in 1863.The French arranged for the sculpture to be sent to Paris. The base, torso, legs, and left wing eventually reached the Louvre, where they were reassembled in the Carytid Room of classical antiquities. The museum also added a plaster wing to the sculpture—an addition that remains today—but did not opt to recreate the head or arms.

The Greek island of Samothrace is in the northeastern Aegean Sea. In ancient times, the island was home to a famous temple complex known as the Great Gods Sanctuary. The Aegean Sea lies between the coast of Greece and Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). It contains over 2,000 islands which were settled by the ancient Greeks. These islands have strong associations with ancient Greek history and culture.

( Avtar Mota ) 


                                               ( The blogger in the  Loure museum, May 2023 )

                                          


 

VISIT  TO LOUVRE MUSEUM ,PARIS ...... THE WINGED VICTORY ( NIKE )  OF SAMOTHRACE.

(Lying on a raised platform on  Daru staircase in  Denon Wing (Level 1)  just as you go up to see Mona Lisa )

"The Winged Victory Is  one of the Louvre’s most popular exhibits. It is  one of the most celebrated sculptures on earth. The monument was found on the island of Samothrace, in the sanctuary of the ‘Great Gods’ to whom people prayed for protection from the dangers of the sea. "
That is what the guide told a group of visitors from  England . I kept listening carefully although the guide wasn't pleased with me for listening him free .

Standing at the top of a staircase in the Musée du Louvre in Paris, the Nike of Samothrace looks down over her admiring crowds. One of the most revered artworks of Hellenistic Greek art, the Nike has been on display in the Louvre since 1866 ( discovered in 1863 ) .

Nike was both the goddess of victory and the personification of victory itself, in both war and athletic competitions. She was regularly featured in Greek art, appearing on pots, architectural sculpture, and free-standing sculptural compositions, either singly or in multiple. Her iconography is distinctive—a winged, youthful woman—and she is one of the most easily identifiable Greek mythological figures.  She was the perfect subject to commemorate military triumphs and was regularly featured in victory monuments, notably the fifth-century Nike of Paionios, erected at the Sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia to celebrate a Peloponnesian War victory. 

Created  around 295 and 290 BC, the broken sculpture ,"The Winged Victory of Samothrace"  , as I learnt , was brought to the Loure museum in the  19th century from an island in Greece  where it was discovered . This sculpture  is of Hellenistic period. The beauty of the sculpture is the positioning . The stance is asymmetrical, the anatomy is quite natural and the movement depicted in the stance is realistic. Known as contrapposto (“counterpose”), this pose implies movement through the use of realistic weight distribution and an S-shaped body. Other famous sculptures that depict this classical approach to conveying the human body are The Walking Man by Rodin and   Michelangelo's David. I also learnt  that this sculpture  has inspired countless artists including  Salvador Dalí and  Umberto Boccioni .
It is not known who made the Winged Victory of Samothrace, but it is believed to have been ordered to be built sometime between 295 and 290 BC as a celebration of some war victory by some Greek king .

Nike is wearing a long tunic of fine cloth, which falls and folds to her feet. The fabric is gathered by two belts, one hidden by the folds which hang over the hips and a second strap beneath the breast area. The garment’s flowing folds are portrayed with great skill. The beautiful cloth tunic is in striking contrast with the thick, deeply carved draped folds of the cloak on Nike’s back. The body of the figure is visibly physical and sexual at the same time. The artist created that effect by giving her a strong presence, which is complemented by the transparency of her stone clothing. Her belly button and breasts are visible through her shirt (in stone), which feels impossible. This is surely a great sculpture  by  some unknown artist. This is what an art critic wrote about this sculpture in Louvre :-

"The sculpture consists of two parts, a large ship’s bow made of grey marble and a free-standing white marble statue with the overall composition rising more than eighteen feet (Nike alone is nine feet tall). The flying personification of victory (nikē in Greek means victory) alights on top of the ship, announcing a naval triumph. Her wings stretch dramatically behind her. A forceful wind blows her drapery across her body, gathering it in heavy folds between her legs, around her waist, and streaming behind her, conveying a vivid illusion of movement. Thin and gauzy across her breasts, abdomen, and legs, this same drapery reveals her body underneath the clothing, creating an erotized vision of the female form."

Similar to other Hellenistic artworks, Nike is intended to be viewed from multiple angles, encouraging the viewer to move around the statue , and through this interaction engage with the artwork physically and emotionally. The statue is breathtaking, but broken and incomplete. Some 110 fragments were unearthed, but there was no sign of her head or her arms. The guide told that a hand was located in 1950. The hand is displayed separately. From the scrutiny of her hand, we find the fingers  outstretched , indicating that she may have been making a gesture of greeting. I was also told that the goddess must also have a crown that appears to have been broken and lost.

 
                                         ( Ruins of the Great Gods Sanctuary at Samothrace ) 
                                        ( Ruins of the Great Gods Sanctuary at Samothrace )

An archaeological excavation on the Greek island of Samothrace, led by an amateur French archaeologist, unearthed the giant winged statue in 1863.The French arranged for the sculpture to be sent to Paris. The base, torso, legs, and left wing eventually reached the Louvre, where they were reassembled in the Carytid Room of classical antiquities. The museum also added a plaster wing to the sculpture—an addition that remains today—but did not opt to recreate the head or arms.

The Greek island of Samothrace is in the northeastern Aegean Sea. In ancient times, the island was home to a famous temple complex known as the Great Gods Sanctuary. The Aegean Sea lies between the coast of Greece and Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). It contains over 2,000 islands which were settled by the ancient Greeks. These islands have strong associations with ancient Greek history and culture.

 

( Avtar Mota )




Creative Commons License
CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.

Friday, May 26, 2023

A VISIT TO LOUVRE MUSEUM, PARIS. .....THE MONA LISA

                                     

                                         



It






   
                                              



           ( The Wedding Feast at Cana' )

               ( Liberty Leading the People )



 

A VISIT TO MUSEE' DU LOUVRE OR LOUVRE MUSEUM, PARIS. .....THE MONA LISA

 

Located on the right bank of the Seine river in the heart of Paris city, Louvre is the world's biggest museum that houses about 300000 collections of art from Europe, Asia, the Islamic world, Egypt, Greece, Rome, France and many other places. It is spread over a huge complex inside an erstwhile palace with three levels. This collection includes treasures in sculptures paintings, fabrics, furniture, jewellery, crockery and innumerable artefacts housed in three separate wings known as Richelieu Wing, Denon Wing and Sully Wing. Each wing has different levels and each level has different rooms. It is not possible to see even a single wing in one day. Accordingly, one needs to do good homework to know what he plans to see and where it is located. I wasted time and money on my earlier visit without proper homework. On 25th May 2023, my visit was satisfying as adequate homework had been done about what to see and where it lay inside the three separate wings including room numbers in specific.

                                            



There are some major treasures housed inside the museum that need not be missed. Some of the most famous artworks inside the Louvre include the Mona Lisa, the winged Victory of Samothrace, the Venus de Milo, the Squatting Scribe, the Code Hammurabi, the Vermeer’s Lacemaker, the Coronation of Napoleon, the Raft of the Medusa. the Sleeping Hermaphrodite, the Venus de Milo and many more.

Louvre has three entrances but the main entrance is through the Glass Pyramid. It is better to enter through the main entrance as you have separate lines for those who need on-the-spot tickets and those who have already booked their time slot online. Better buy online as your entry is assured, smooth and hassle-free in about 20 to 30 minutes even if you see a huge crowd. Buying tickets across the counter on the day of the visit may take more than one hour and sometimes the tickets are already sold out. Roughly, 30,000 people visit Louvre every day. My suggestion would be to book a 9am slot online. The entry gates get crowded after 11am. A ticket without a guide may cost 17 euros. And remember that you need to walk about two to three km inside the Museum to go to various wings. You also need to use the staircase and escalators. All this is also going to give some discomfort to those who have knee problems or osteoarthritis. It is advisable to wear comfortable shoes, carry your water bottle and some snacks and take some rest in between visiting various wings. I purchased water @1 Euro from a Punjabi boy ( from Hoshiarpur ) outside the Glass Pyramid. 

 

As you enter, you find people rushing to Denon Wing Level 1 (room no711). Mona Lisa is housed in this wing. As you go up the staircases, you confront 'The Winged Victory of Samothrace' another artistic wonder in sculpture from ancient Greece. Turn right and you are in multiple lobbies housing paintings. Go right and you are in room 711 which has many great paintings including Mona Lisa. On the wall facing Mona Lisa, you can find Paolo Veronese's ( 1528-1588) massive painting known in the world of art as The Wedding Feast at Cana'. At over 6 metres high and almost 10 metres wide, 'The Wedding Feast at Cana' is the biggest painting in the Louvre. It depicts an extraordinary banquet with a crowd of some 130 different characters in a blaze of light and colour. On account of its size and the Mona Lisa crowd in the room, it was difficult for me to clearly capture this painting with the camera. Veronese painted the scene for a monastery's refectory on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice. In 1798, Napoleon’s troops confiscated the painting and had it shipped to Paris. Besides Mona Lisa, you will find two other brilliant paintings, Jacques-Louis David’s ‘The Coronation of Napoleon’ and Delacroix’s ‘Liberty Leading the People’ on the first floor, Denon Wing.

 

THE MONA LISA

 

Many visitors expect the Mona Lisa painting in Louvre Museum to be a massive painting, but it is a tiny masterpiece. It is just 77 cm by 53 cm. The painting is placed in a temperature-controlled room and it is encased in bullet-proof glass. The glass cover has been a safety precaution since the early 1950s when a visitor poured acid on it. The visitors are kept 5 feet away from the painting by a specially erected barricade.

 

I stayed for about one hour in room 711 and the crowd was always unbelievably thick. Everyone wanted to take a selfie with her in the background. Could that be possible?

If Monalisa is going to be sold today, its price would be around $850 million. It is the world’s most expensive painting with the highest insurance value. This year it was insured for 830 million US dollars for comprehensive risks including damage and theft. It is pertinent to mention that there is a French heritage law that prohibits the painting from being bought or sold.

Painted by Leonardo Da Vinci in Florence, Italy sometime around 1503, it is believed to be the portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of a Florentine cloth merchant named Francesco del Giocondo, which is why the Mona Lisa painting is also called La Gioconda. After Leonardo finished the portrait, he didn’t give it to the cloth merchant or his wife. Instead, he brought it to France with him. Leonardo held the painting close to him for more than 15 years, and only at his death in 1519 did his friend and patron, French King Francois I bring the painting to his Palace. In 1804, after the French Revolution, the painting was removed from the Royal Palace and shifted to the Louvre Museum. Mona Lisa spent some time on Napoleon Bonaparte’s bedroom wall in the Tuileries Palace. In 1911, Mona Lisa was stolen by a patriotic Italian, who believed that since Leonardo was an Italian, his masterpiece must also be in Italy and not France. It was recovered in 1913.

Mona Lisa's smile is the most enigmatic: much spoken of, stolen, copied and reinterpreted. Mona Lisa is an icon that has fascinated the world for nearly four centuries. Da Vinci painted Mona Lisa on poplar wood instead of canvas. Like most Renaissance depictions of the Virgin Mary, the Mona Lisa also bears a strong resemblance to her. The woman in the painting is seen sitting on an armchair with her hands crossed and placed on her lap. Her iconic gaze is fixed on the eyes of viewers. Da Vinci gave the painting a lifelike appearance by omitting outlines on the figure, a method known as sfumato. The sfumato technique refers to a painting with no bold or harsh outlines. By blurring and blending carefully, artists use sfumato to give a smoky, atmospheric effect to a painting.

There is a new belief that Mona Lisa may not be artistically the best ever work in the world. All said and done, it is ultimately a portrait. It may even be one of the greatest portraits next to Raphael’s Girl Holding a Unicorn and in front of Thomas Gainsborough’s Blue Boy, but it’s still only a portrait. Has the theft of the Mona Lisa hyped its reputation and value? Is it a compromise in terms of artistic importance? Leonardo is not only famous for Mona Lisa, but he also painted other masterpieces such as The Last Supper and The Virgin of the Rocks.

 

I wanted to stay close to Mona Lisa and other masterpieces on display in room no 711 of Denon Wing but other works of art in my visit's itinerary made me leave the room. Can't call it a visit in a hurry as poet Jagan Nath Azad says:-

 

"Hamein tha kaam bahut ruuk sakay na pal do pal,

Guzar gaye teray kooche se hum saba ki tarah"

 

( Avtar Mota . Paris, France )

 Creative Commons LicenseCHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.