Monumental in scale, this four-part program pays tribute to European cities whose art was deemed the high point of Western civilization. Moving clockwise from above the original entrance, the paintings represent Athens, Florence, Rome, and Venice. Together they manifest a late nineteenth-century belief that the classical tradition had been reborn on this side of the Atlantic. The artists chosen to decorate the building's rotunda had all studied in Europe where they acquired mastery of figure painting and knowledge of art history. Each used symbols to characterize the city represented and its culture. Each used symbols to characterize the city represented and its culture.