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http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:196038
Winged Victory of Samothrace by CosmoWenman is licensed under the Creative Commons
- Attribution license.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
# Summary
***
*"No classical education is needed to appreciate the personification, nor is it
hard to grasp the drama of the figure's action given its superb position--and this
is so despite the absence of arms and head; indeed perhaps its maimed condition has
helped make the life it retains seem more miraculous."*—Francis Haskell and
Nicholas Penny, *Taste and the Antique: The Lure of Classical Sculpture, 1500-1900*
****
An iconic beacon of martial glamour, *Winged Victory, the Nike of Samothrace* is
widely considered Hellenistic sculpture's greatest masterpiece. It was made between
200 and 190 BC, and more than a century ago important works of sculptural art like
it were reproduced in plaster to be bought, sold, and traded by museums,
universities, art schools, and private collectors around the world. In 1891, high-
fidelity, full-scale, nine-foot-tall plaster casts of *Winged Victory* could be
purchased from the Louvre's own atelier for 300 francs.
The customs and commerce driving the plaster cast tradition largely [died out]
(http://goo.gl/aFX84x) in the early 1900s. Many significant cast collections were
broken up, with some pieces lost or even deliberately destroyed.
In 1892, a plaster of *Winged Victory* was carefully cast by the Louvre's atelier
under the direction of its master mold maker Eugene Arrondelle and was purchased by
the University of Basel. The Basel cast of *Victory* survives today at the
Skulpturhalle Basel museum.
In September 2013, with the museum's permission and the financial support of
Autodesk's Reality Capture division, I spent a week working in the Skulpturhalle,
taking 3D surveys of my choice of casts. I took hundreds of carefully staged photos
of *Victory* and used Autodesk's *ReCap Photo* photogrammetry software to process
them into this high-quality 3D model.
That restoration effort will include a 3D survey, though the Louvre has not
indicated whether they will freely publish the 3D data for which they are
soliciting funds. While the original *Victory* is conspicuously missing, and as the
Louvre contemplates what to do with their data, I am happy to provide my own. This
capture is to my knowledge the first high-quality 3D survey of *Winged Victory* to
be freely published, and I hope you enjoy direct access to this ancient, dramatic
work's mystique.
Francis Haskell and Nicholas Penny, quoted above, continue, writing in *Taste and
the Antique* that the *Winged Victory of Samothrace* "was singled out by Marinetti
in his Futurist manifesto of 20 February 1909 as the symbol of the classical
culture which the heroic new age of the machine gun and racing car would
supercede." I hope this new, 3D captured, digitally published *Winged Victory* and
all its 3D printed iterations might someday be seen as symbols of a *new* new age,
and a different kind of futurism.
If you know anyone who would be interested in sponsoring more of this kind of work
by me, please send them my way.
Thanks,
-- Cosmo Wenman
http://cosmowenman.com
http://twitter.com/CosmoWenman
cosmo.wenman@gmail.com
****
The blue-green 3D print shown in the photos was made with white PLA and finished in
patinated copper using Alternate Reality Patinas (coming soon!). It's the very
first 3D print made with this survey data, and it was shown at the London and Paris
3D Printshows in November 2013. It's been sold, but I can make another, and
another, and another, in unlimited editions.
Bre Pettis and Kio Stark for early feedback and advice on my Kickstarter campaign.
http://brepettis.com + http://kiostark.com
MakerBot for featuring my Kickstarter on Thingiverse.
Kerry Hogarth of the 3D Printshow, for giving me tickets to the London, Paris, and
New York shows to use as Kickstarter rewards, and for exhibition space there to
show off the project's results. http://3dprintshow.com
Susan Self for her help promoting the Kickstarter to the media.
susanlself@gmail.com
Virginia Postrel for her advice and help telling the story of the bigger picture as
it's been coming into focus. http://vpostrel.com/power-of-glamour
Thank you to all my Kickstarter's backers. Even though it wasn't the viral hit we'd
hoped for and the campaign fell through, without their support and help promoting
it, the project would have remained dead in the water. http://kck.st/1bxMz0I
-- Cosmo
****
Related media mentions: http://cosmowenman.wordpress.com/media-mentions/