At the head of the great marble staircase leading to the upper galleries of The Louvre in Paris, this statue stands as though it had just put down from flight. The draped garment clings to the body as though it were wet. The cloak which is slipping from the shoulders billows out behind the figure and wraps around the legs. The body is thrust forward by the force of the powerful wings.

Like the Venus de Milo the statue was found on an island in the Aegean Sea. During the nineteenth century when nations became particularly conscious of collecting great works of art, the government officials were expected to serve as scouts for available treasures. In 1863 the French consul at Adrianople, Charles Champoiseau, who was also an archaeologist, personally found the statue scattered over a lonely hillside on the island of Samothrace. It was without head and broken into 118 fragments. The pieces were put together at The Louvre. Nikes, such as this, were created by the Greeks to celebrate naval victories. It is thought that it honored the Rhodian conquest of Antiochus III (222-187 B.C.) and the courageous men who faced death in battle. It is certainly one of the finest achievements of the Hellenistic Age.