My Experience with Virtual Museum Visiting (Essay Sample)

The museum I decided to visit virtually was the Uffizi Gallery Art Museum. I chose this museum because it had plenty of galleries to choose from. The Bellini and Giorgione Room of floor 2 was the gallery I decided to analyze because the paintings caught my eye and the subjects seemed interesting to analyze because of the painter's attention to detail when it came to things such as the wrinkles in their bright colored clothing to the amazing naturalistic style.

The first thing I noticed when observing paintings was that the zoom function wasn’t perfect. There also wasn’t a way to view the pieces in front view, so instead I was viewing them at an angle. Another thing that was noticeable about the room was that the lighting gave the pieces a yellow and warm tint. Some of the paintings I observed around the room had a glare from the lights, so I had to search for some of the paintings into google to find a clearer and more accurate picture.

The arrangement of artworks gave the room an overall cohesiveness. Artworks with the same dimensions and about the same size were hung up next to each other. All of the paintings were framed in gold, some of the frames were the same as other paintings, and some were in different styles for uniqueness.The first piece I decided to analyze was “Madonna and Child” by Giovanni Battista Cima da Conegliano. The subjects are painted in a soft style, and the shadow is being cast on the left portion of the painting, showing that the light is coming from the right side and it creates a 3D effect. In it, Madonna is sitting with a naked child seated on her left leg in her lap. The child's hair is wavy and a red or brown color and Madonna's hair isn’t visible since she has a white scarf draped over her head.  Madonna is dressed in a bright long-sleeve red dress and over both the scarf and dress is a bright blue cloak that is draping down and covering nearly all of her arms and legs. Her left palm is opened up as the baby is grasping onto Madonna's thumb. Madonna’s head is tilted toward her child and looking down at him with an enthralled expression. Behind Madonna is a bright green curtain. The background is a grassy hill with what looks to be a house on it, mountains, and a sky which is a pale blue with clouds. The modest style of Madonna’s clothing and the innocence of the child holding her hand reminds me of the Virgin Mary, so I can assume this painting has a religious connotation and represents motherhood, admiration, and innocence.

Another painting in the gallery is “Sibyl” by Vittore Carpaccio and it is in the same renaissance style as “Madonna and the Child.” In it, a blonde, curly haired woman is standing and wearing a light teal dress. She has a brown cloak over her head and draped across some of her body. In one hand is a dark brown book or case of some kind, and in the other hand she’s holding a scroll. She’s sporting red sandals, and by her feet are some books and a white dog. I believe that since the room is surrounded with paintings that have religious connotations and religious figures, that she was someone important to believers.

The last painting that I analyzed was “Prophet”, also by Vittore Carpaccio. This painting was placed directly next to “Sibyl” because both paintings are the exact same sizes and they are both full-body paintings of people who are standing, posing, and wearing a similar dress. This painting shows a man with shoulder length brown hair. He's wearing a long blue tunic, as well as a long pink or orange fabric tied with two strings at his chest. Similar to the other paintings, he’s drawn in a renaissance style, and light is being cast on the left side of his face. I believe that because of the titles of some of the artworks in the room, it’s easy to tell that the artist enjoyed painting religious pieces

The artworks were beautiful and naturalistic, and I learned they all had a religious meaning to them. The gallery provided titles of the paintings and the authors names, but no information on the meaning of the paintings was provided. The Uffizi Gallery displays pieces from the Italian renaissance, so this room fits the theme of the general museum, and overall I genuinely enjoyed experiencing and analyzing the different works of art.