Winged Victory of Brescia

The Winged Victory called "The Brescia Victory" is a pastiche made in the 1st century CE, transforming a sculpture design that was carved (possibly) by Skopas, (3rd century BCE) showing Aphrodite admiring a reflection of herself in Ares' shield nude from the waist up. It was an allegory of love conquiring war. The original might've been a cult statue in the city state of Corinth as coins from it frequently show the statue. The motif of Aphrodite standing with a shield on her raised left knee was popular as evidenced by a copy in the Naples Museum called the Venus of Capua. Another looser copy was changed with the addition of an Eros standing on a support to the left. A return to the original design was a copy in Perge, Turkey. The goddess was shown writing the name of an important Roman citizen who'd donated a number of high quality copies of older sculpture to a bathouse. The most famous example of the design is the Venus de Milo. In that instance, it has been argued that the sculptor modified it into an orignal inspired by the older design, but with many changes. In order to trasnform it into Victoria (Nike), additional drapery was added the the nude torso. Venus (Aphrodite) was shown writing on the shield the name of the victor from a war. The statue had been hidden beneath the Capitoline temple in Brescia, together with other bronze objects, to protect them from a sack of the town in the 4th or 5th century CE. It was unearthed in 1826. The shield and helmet of Mars (Ares) were never found. 19th century replacements of them were added to it. They went missing in the 20th century and the sculpture now is displaed as it was found. It is exhibited in the Archaeological Santa Giulia Museum, in Brescia, Italy. The statue underwent an intense conservation and study in the early 21st century. One of the things discovered was that the statue had always been fully clothed. It wasn't an older bronze that had been altered as was previously thought. The statue was found to have been cast from at least 30 pieces that were then assembled.The coating to partially smooth over the surface and conceal restorations was removed, revealing more fine details and revealing the statue was a much higher quality work than was previously thought. Traces of silver and gold decoration were found.  The statue is a valued cultural item for Brescia and has been used as a mascot. For more information, check this link at Google Arts and Culture: https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/brescia’s-winged-victory/rwIC6y5s2HsQLA