A highly detailed exact miniature of the large marble statue from antiquity, which is housed in the Musee du Louvre, Paris.
The marble statue represents the goddess as she descends from the skies to the triumphant Armies.
Sculptured arts have been commissioned to re-create this beautiful marble Nike, exact to the full sized original. Every mark, and every chip from centuries of wear and war, has been duplicated throughout, including the restoration done over the years, including the frame on the statue’s outstretched right wing, which is a symmetric plaster version of the original left one, as it was missing along with the head and arms when unearthed in 1863. Before she lost her arms, which have never been recovered, Nike's right arm is believed to have been raised, her hand cupped round her mouth to deliver the shout of Victory. Despite its significant damage and incompleteness, the marble Victory statue is held to be one of the great surviving masterpieces of sculpture from the Hellenistic Period, and from the entire Greco-Roman era. The statue shows a mastery of form and movement which has impressed critics and artists since its discovery. It is considered one of the Louvre's greatest treasures, and since the late 19th century it has been displayed in the most dramatic fashion, at the head of the sweeping Daru staircase, within the museum. The work is notable for its convincing rendering of a pose where violent motion and sudden stillness meet, for its graceful balance and for the rendering of the figure's draped garments, compellingly depicted as if rippling in a strong sea breeze.
