Pietro Lorenzetti's piece is from Siena during the 1320's. It is about 30 x 60 inches and done in tempera and tooled gold on a wooden panel. Through a dark outer room, the piece is visible through a doorway with a stone archway. The architecture of the room and surrounding rooms emphasizes the Gothic influence of the period and brings and pieces together nicely in that historical setting. In the room there are also other altarpieces from the same pre-Renaissance period.

The background of the piece was done primarily in the tooled gold. There is molding in the shape of a triple bubble above the heads of Madonna and Child. She is seated on a throne, Child on knee, and you can see by looking at her hand that the proportions are not quite right because it is larger than it should be. Her dress is detailed in gold. The golden halos around the heads are circular despite the direction in which the head is turned.

All of the pieces have the distinctive look of Byzantine influence. The large architectural throne with gold works, which was applied in thin sheets, has similarities to Byzantine tradition. The use of this gold gave the pieces in this period a rich look and were reserved for holy figures as a representation of the spiritual realm.

The second piece of art that I investigated was "The Birth of Venus" by French artist Nicolas Poussin. Done in Rome in1634 as an oil painting on canvas, it is a very large piece, perhaps 6 x 8 feet. Located in a small room, the work has been placed in a gold frame above a wooden table.

Lastly I sought out the Impressionist gallery, which by the way I found to be quite impressive. There was one room in particular that held 15 Monets. All in intricate golden frames, one in particular caught my eye, "Bend in the Epte River near Giveny." The oil on canvas painting was about 36 x 42 inches and was done by Claude Monet in 1888. I think Monet is my favorite artist. I enjoyed walking back and forth to look at the sweeping small brush strokes up close, and moving back and watching them become something in a larger picture. Up close it looks like a bunch of misconstrued lines, but when you walk back, it pops.

Poussin painted in Baroque style, often depicting Greek and Roman subject matter as in "The Birth of Venus." It is said that he was good at developing multiple meanings into classical themed paintings. In this particular mythological piece, there is much debate over what is what is being depicted. Is it the birth of Venus, her triumphal parade, or the sea god Neptune's marine procession? Some question wh

Some common words found in the essay are:
Madonna Child, Italian Renaissance, Instead Cimabue, Pietro Lorenzetti's, Birth Venus, Claude Monet, Theresa Bernini, Light Impressionist, Poussin Rome, Adonis Baroque, birth venus, subject matter, brush strokes, sense movement, greek roman, madonna enthroned, lorenzetti's piece, caught eye, baroque art, tooled gold,
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