She states how she finds the chariot racing athlete "grave and dignified" with his meditative expression, giving a "look that would become canonical for gods and heroes in the classic tradition". She goes on to write about the 'Porch of the Maidens' in the Erechtheion in Athens, Greece, with columns carved into feminine shapes that she labels as "a remarkable display of female power" as "muscular strength" co-exists with womanly curves, and then the piece 'Laocoön and His Sons', a violent scene carved in marble in which sea serpents attempt to slay a man and his three sons that stridently addresses the problem of theodicy. The book goes on next to the famous mosaic of Saint John Chrysostom in the Hagia Sophia, a piece that Paglia writes as having an "implacable intensity of gaze" making it a great piece of Byzantine art, and additionally to the late eighth century Ireland's Book of Kells, an "intricately decorated manuscript of the Gospels that is one of the most beautiful objects surviving from medieval Europe." The eighth piece included is Donatello's 'Mary Magdalene', a work of the Italian Renaissance created in 1453 that showed the artist's ability to be "harsh and imposing". Paglia then discusses Titian's 'Venus with a Mirror'; she writes about the artistic changes it symbolizes as the strong brushwork and liberal use of paint allow for warm flesh tones, Titian creating "opulent nudes that thrust sexual display and fantasy" onto the viewer. Paglia next discusses Bronzino's 'Portrait of Andrea Doria as Neptune', writing that as a work of the Mannerism movement it shows a "polished theatricality" arresting to the viewer, and Gian Lorenzo Bernini's 'Chair of Saint Peter' in the Vatican City, a 17th-century work showing how Baroque art often "overwhelms the senses with flamboyant grandeur". She takes a nuanced view of the lasting influence of pop art, writing that, generally, the artistic movement "projects an innocent child’s view of the world." She also argues that works by artists such as Andy Warhol, whom she praises, conveyed powerful subtleties with their pieces. The book details 'Marilyn Diptych', a 1962 silkscreen that replicates a photo of Marilyn Monroe over and over with image variations, and the work is lauded for strongly showing the "multiplicity of meanings" in the actress' life and legacy.