Nike of Samothrace

Nike of Samothrace (or the Winged Victory of Samothrace) was sculpted sometime between 220 and 190BC by an unknown sculptor. The sculpture depicts the Greek goddess of Victory, Nike, as she lands on a naval ship after a victory at battle. Her dress clings to her body as she leans into the wind that she flew in on. The base that she stands on is the prow (back) of the ship and is an original part of the sculpture. It was found in pieces and put back together before it was shipped to the Louvre in Paris.

Like the Venus de Milo, which you read about yesterday, Nike of Samothrace was discovered on an island in the Aegean Sea. A French archaeologist found the sculpture on Samothrace (thus the name) in 1863. Her arms and head were (and still are) missing and the right wing is a reproduction based on the left wing.
Despite the condition of the sculpture, Nike of Samothrace stands grandly upon the ship on the landing of a prominent staircase in the Louvre. She continues to attract hordes of visitors and to stun even those who didn’t expect to see her.

Unfortunately that’s it for today. I’m taking a graduate school entrance exam early in the morning so I must get some sleep. Wish me luck!

EDITED TO ADD: I forgot to add the pictures last night! Luckily, blogs can be edited. Also, the test went extremely well. I am 99% sure I passed. (I only scores for two of three section and they're unofficial scores. I don't want to jinx myself!) I'll keep you updated.

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Current NaNoEdMo Hour Count: 5.25/50 hours

Venus de Milo

The beautiful marble statue, Venus de Milo, stands 6.7 feet (203 cm) tall in the Louvre in Paris. It was created in about 130BC by Alexandros of Antioch. The French ended up with the Greek sculpture and named it Venus, even though this is the Roman name of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of beauty and love. This sculpture has an interesting history which I will relay to you today.

She was found hidden away in a cavern on the island of Milos in the Aegean Sea in 1820. She was broken in pieces: upper body, lower body, top of left arm, left hand holding an apple, and inscribed base. The peasant who found her, Yorgos Kentrotas, knew that he should turn her in to the Turkish authorities but he found her beauty so great that he kept her for himself. He was probably also interested in how much money he could make if he sold her to the right buyer. Eventually, the officials learned of the discovery and took Venus de Milo from Kentrotas’ barn.

While visiting the island, a French naval officer d’Urville discovered the sculpture. He knew it was valuable and wanted to buy it for the French. The peasant was willing to sell it but d’Urville’s captain, uninterested in antiquities, said there was no room on the ship for her. When his ship reached Constantinople, d’Urville showed sketches of the sculpture to the French ambassador who immediately sent someone to buy the Venus de Milo for France.

The French arrived as the sculpture was being loaded onto a ship. It was to be delivered to the Sultan of Constantinople’s translator as a gift from the natives of the island. The French fought for the Venus de Milo and were victorious.
Once at the Louvre, the sculpture was put back together but the arms were not as well finished as the rest of the sculpture so they were left off. Experts later determined that the arms were original pieces of the Venus de Milo. The inscribed base told us who had created the sculpture, Alexandros of Antioch, but it dated the Venus de Milo much later than the French had originally thought. That piece of the base has mysteriously disappeared, though we haven’t forgotten the information it taught us.

French sculptors worked to create a new set of arms for the Venus de Milo but she was ultimately left armless. We do know that the right arm originally rested on the raised knee to hold up the drapery. The left arm crossed her body and held an apple. The sculpture was once painted in bright colors and decorated with jewelry but none of that remains.

Please note that I've added some links to the side bar: Art Knowledge News and Fine Art at Home.

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Current NaNoEdMo Hour Count: 4.25/50 hours

Etretat in Art

When I set out to write this post, I remembered having seen countless paintings of the cliffs at Etretat in France (Wikipedia image). It’s true, I have seen tons, but I didn’t recall exactly how many of them were by Claude Monet.

Monet rarely painted a scene only once. He painted many series, some of which you’ve seen on this blog (water lilies, Rouen Cathedral). Monet loved experimenting with light. He would paint the same subject at dawn, noon, dusk, night, and every time in between, using color changes to show the different lighting conditions. The cliffs at Etretat were no exception. Below is the Manneporte, Etretat, painted at different times by Monet.

And below is Monet’s The Cliff, Etretat, Sunset. I chose to show you this painting because I remember seeing it when it was included in the Monet in Normandy exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art last year and the image stuck with me. I love the sun in this painting.
It wasn’t just Monet who painted this scene, though. Below, find Gustave Courbet’s take on the cliffs in The Cliffs at Etretat and Etretat After a Storm.

Eugene Boudin’s Etretat, The Cliff of Aval (below).
Eugene Delacroix also painted the cliffs but I couldn’t find a picture online to show you. You can always go to the library and look it up in a book if you’re interested.

If you can think of any other artists who painted this scene, please leave a comment and I’ll try to add images. I'm sure I've forgotten some.

And since, in the writing of this post, I realized that I haven’t yet written about Monet’s life and work, look forward to that at some point this week.

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I am participating in NaNoEdMo, though I haven't signed up (and I'm not sure if I will). Also, I forgot about it until today (only one day late) so I'm slightly behind. I'll be caught up by tomorrow. The goal of NaNoEdMo is to dedicate 50 hours to editing a novel during the moth of March. This goal is not nearly as insane as that of NaNoWriMo so I'm confident I'll be successful. I just need a little something to spur me onward. This project will be finished by my birthday!

(Or at least much closer to finished...)

Current NaNoEdMo Hour Count: 2.25/50 hours

Cool Charcoal Project

There's a great project posted at Bookhou Craft Projects. You can create your own abstract masterpiece using charcoal and paper scraps. Go check it out.

Don't forget to check back here later for Monday's post, Etretat in Art.

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Art Institute of Chicago

Just a quick post so you don't feel neglected. The Art Institite of Chicago is packing up their Impressionist collection so they can do renovations on the museum wing in which it is kept. Ninety-two pieces, including Caillebotte's Paris Street, Rainy Day, van Gogh's The Bedroom, Degas' Yellow Dancers in the Wings, and Gauguin's L'Arlesiennes. This is a fabulous collection of art and for a limited time the people of Fort Worth, Texas will get the chance to enjoy them. The collection will be on display at the Kimbell Art Museum from June 29 through November 2, 2008.

Trust me; seize the opportunity!

Georges Seurat's Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte and several other mainstays of the Art Institute's collection will not travel.

Happy Leap Day! And have a great weekend!

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