Pieta was created by Michelangelo Buonarroti in 1499

when he was only 24 years old. Marble was used in the sculpture which has been a favorite
medium of sculptors on the ancient times. It has inspired emotion, faith, and imitation through
its elegant depiction of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ. If you look closely, the sculptor’s
signature can be found across Mary’s chest but he later regretted the act and resolved never
to sign another piece of his work. Moreover, you can see that the head of Mary is a bit too
small for her very large body. The artist had to make her body oversized to be the statue’s
support thus, he carved out sheets of draping garments. Overtime, the Pieta was brutally
attacked by Laszlo Toth with a hammer that knocked off Mary’s left arm, the tip of her nose,
and damaged her cheek and left eye. During the restoration of the sculpture which took 10
months, workers discovered a secret signature on the piece that was hidden in the folds of
Mary’s left hand was an understated “M” which was believed to stand for Michelangelo.

The Starry Night was an oil canvas painting by the

Dutch post-impressionist painter, Vincent Van Gogh. He painted it in June 1889 from a room
in the mental asylum at Saint-Remy where he was recovering from mental illness and his ear
amputation. He painted the view from his east-facing window in the asylum 21 times. Van
Gogh depicted the view at different times of day and under various weather conditions. The
hospital staff did not allow him to paint in his bedroom but he was able to make sketches in
ink or charcoal on paper which eventually made his basis. According to what he wrote to his
brother, The Starry Night would be such a failure among his famous works. The analysts of
painting emphasize the symbolism of the cypress tree, linking it to death and Van Gogh’s
eventual suicide wherein the tree reaches into the sky, serving as a direct connection
between the earth and heaven.