My experience at the Met was full of amazing visuals from a huge selection of pieces of many different time periods. Immediately entering the Met, I was able to see the difference in size compared to the Brooklyn Museum. What I found most interesting in the Met were the sculptures of the Lamassus before entering the Assyrian palace section. Similar to the Brooklyn Museum, the Met’s Assyrian Palace Relief panel showcased many works of King Ashurnasirpal ll and eagle headed guardians performing common rituals. Art of ancient Mesopotamia never fails to interest me and it is fair to say that I spent a great amount of time at the Assyrian reliefs during my visit to the museum.

Moving on to Renaissance art, the piece that caught my eye was The Crucifixion with Saints and a Donor in 1520 by Joos Van Cleve. This triptych oil painting contains three panels with gem like hues such as ruby and sapphire which can be seen through the clothing in the middle panel. Through Cleve’s painting, Cleve creates this setting of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ with a beautiful landscape in the background. Like most Renaissance art, this art by Cleve is meant to tell a story through this visual representation of the crucifixion. We are able to see biblical figures such as Virgin Mary, Saint Peter, Saint Paul, Saint John, and Saint Catharine. On the left panel you can see John the Baptist carrying a lamb which indicates Jesus Christ’s sacrifice for our sins. Artwork of the Renaissance were very similar to The Crucifixion with Saints and a Donor in the case that artists intended to tell a story through religious visuals and images. In contrast to Renaissance art, Baroque art has a deep emphasis on emotional intensity as well as a clear focus on what the author intends for his/her audience to focus on. The Lamentation in 1603 by Domenichino clearly illustrates the differences between Baroque art and Renaissance art. In the Lamentation, you are able to see the grief in the individuals faces as they mourn over the crucifixion of Christ. You can also see an emphasis on diagonals rather than vertical like in Renaissance art. Everyone in the painting is at a slight angle whereas in The Crucifixion with Saints and a Donor, you can see the verticality from Jesus on the cross as well as the biblical figures standing upright. Another common technique in Baroque art is the use of foreshortening where images seem to be moving towards us. In the Lamentation, we can see the legs and feet of Jesus and Cupid coming towards the audience which is also emphasized through the diagonal. It is through these differences that audiences can clearly distinguish between Renaissance art and Baroque art.

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