Gloria Victis

model c. 1874, cast after 1879

Marius-Jean-Antonin Mercié

Artist, French, 1845 - 1916

A winged woman has hoisted a young, muscular man up and across one shoulder in this freestanding bronze statue. In this view, the woman runs toward us, her back foot lifted, as she wraps her arms around the man’s thighs. She looks off to our left, her hair swept up. Long, narrow wings slice into the space behind her. Her chest and shoulders are covered with gold armor, and drapery swirls around her legs. The man is nearly nude, covered only with a cloth across his groin. His arms are flung wide, one reaching high in the air and the other holding a broken sword by the woman’s shoulder. His head lolls to one side, his lips parted. A laurel branch lies at the woman’s foot on a small mound textured like a rock. An inscription on the front rim of the base reads “GLORIA VICTIS.”

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On View

West Building Ground Floor, Gallery G7

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    bronze

  • Credit Line

    Andrew W. Mellon Fund

  • Dimensions

    overall: 140 × 84.1 × 67.3 cm (55 1/8 × 33 1/8 × 26 1/2 in.)
    overall (length of tassle hanging from handle): 12.07 cm (4 3/4 in.)
    overall (overall length of sword): 21.27 cm (8 3/8 in.)
    overall (length of sword blade): 12.07 cm (4 3/4 in.)
    overall (length of sword handle): 8.26 cm (3 1/4 in.)
    overall (length of sword hilt): 9.53 cm (3 3/4 in.)
    overall (widest point of sword hilt): 5.72 cm (2 1/4 in.)
    gross weight: 89.812 kg (198 lb.)

  • Accession

    1985.52.1

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Private collection, England;[1] (Shepherd Gallery Associates, New York, in association with Ramon Osuna, of Osuna Gallery, Washington), by 1985; purchased 26 November 1985 by NGA.
[1] In NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1985

  • Nineteenth Century French and Western European Sculpture in Bronze and Other Media, Shepherd Gallery, New York, 1985, no. 66.

1990

  • Antonin Mercié: Sculptor of the Lee Monument - The French Academic Tradition, Marsh Gallery, University of Richmond, Virginia, 1990, pp. 12-14.

Bibliography

1994

  • Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 149, repro.

2000

  • Butler, Ruth, and Suzanne Glover Lindsay, with Alison Luchs, Douglas Lewis, Cynthia J. Mills, and Jeffrey Weidman. European Sculpture of the Nineteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2000: 292-297, color repro.

Inscriptions

on top of self-base, near left foot of running figure: A. MERCIÉ; incised in the model on front rim of self-base: GLORIA VICTIS.; incised on rear rim of self-base: F. BARBEDIENNE, Fondeur

Markings

FM: Barbedienne

Wikidata ID

Q63860964

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