The “Ion Jalea” Museum

Nicolae Grigorescu, Flori de nalbă, ulei pe carton, 300 x 170

„Winged Victory”

Plaster, 50,2 x 12,5 x 48,4 cm

Ion JALEA (1887–1983)

The sculpture is based on an ancient Greek representation of the goddess of victory – Nike, discovered in the sanctuary of the Cabiri gods, on the Greek island of Samothraki. The goddess was known to the Romans as Victoria.

The goddess Nike is considered to be the patroness of warriors, and her sculptural representation immortalizes the concept of a victory monument. In the Greek pantheon, Nike was the youngest of the goddesses, being the daughter of the titan Pallas and the river Styx, which was said to separate the world of the living from that of the dead. In ancient Greek mythology she is said to have helped Zeus, the supreme ruler of Olympus, defeat the titan Kronos, which is why she was considered the goddess of victory. The sculpture discovered on the island of Samothraki shows the winged goddess in flight above the ground, clothed in a drapery that suggests the idea of movement. The representation of the goddess, which was found on the island of Samothraki, towered above the sea, and according to the calculations of scientists, she held in one of her hands a horn, from which she sounded, announcing victory. There is also a legend that says that the trumpets were played when Nike announced the victory. Later, she was depicted with a crown or weapon and a palm branch, sometimes with the staff of Hermes, the messenger of the gods. Ion Jalea proposes a personification of this ancient theme. Victory is represented with wings, holding in her right hand a trumpet, as a harbinger of success, and in her left hand a banner, a symbol of triumph and peace.