A plaster replica of the famous “Winged Victory” sculpture stood in the Grand Reading Room of the Thompson library until, on the verge of crumbling, it was removed in 1959.
Fifty years later, “Winged Victory” has returned.
A full-sized plaster replica of the Louvre’s “Nike of Samothrace” sculpture (also known as the “Winged Victory of Samothrace”) now stands in the same location as its predecessor at one end of the Grand Reading Room in the renovated library.
The sculpture is the focal point of the spacious room, whose only other decorative element is the ornamentation on the barrel ceiling.
“The Grand Reading Room … is a very stately, inherently beautiful room,” said Wesley Boomgaarden, preservation officer of Ohio State University Libraries.
KENNY GREER/THE LANTERN‘Winged Victory,’ a replica of the famous statue in the Louvre in Paris, stands in the Grand Reading Room in the renovated Thompson library, set to open in Autumn Quarter 2009.The new replica was a gift from Karol Wells and the late Richard Wells, a member of OSU’s class of 1956.
The donation for the sculpture, which cost approximately $23,000, was part of OSU’s $30 million private fundraising project for the library renovation, Boomgaarden said.
By comparison, the first “Winged Victory” replica probably cost about $500, and the library itself about $600,000, Boomgaarden said.
OSU’s class of 1892 donated the first replica in 1912 as a 20th anniversary class gift to the Thompson Library, which opened in 1913.
“A hundred years ago, classical sculpture reproductions were the rage in America,” especially among schools, Boomgaarden said.
The sculpture was removed in 1959 amid concerns that large chunks of crumbling plaster would injure someone in the library.
Aside from paying homage to the first replica in the library, however, the new replica doesn’t have much symbolic significance specific to OSU, Boomgaarden said.
“It is a classical statement of celebrating victory, and I suppose Ohio State celebrates victory as much as anybody.”
The original “Winged Victory” statue was probably offered by the people of the Greek island Rhodes in commemoration of a naval victory in the early second century BC, according to the Louvre’s Web site.
Brand association with one of OSU’s top sponsors was not a factor, Boomgaarden said.
“The Nike brand takes its name from Nike, but the Nike founder is from the University of Oregon, so he had nothing to do with it, although maybe someone should talk to him about a donation here,” Boomgaarden said with a laugh.
The library is scheduled to open before the start of Autumn Quarter 2009.
Dan McKeever can be reached at [email protected].
