Project 4: Renaissance Style Portrait
Discussion Questions:
Have students research and review Renaissance artwork as well as contemporary portrait artists.
Discuss portrait works specifically. Artist to discuss are Rembrandt van Rijn, Leonardo Da Vinci, Van Eyck, Diego Velasquez, Lucien Freud, Cecelia Beaux and Steve Penley.
Discuss the religious meanings as well as purpose behind art created during the Renaissance era.
Discuss the use of women in art as well as women as portrait artists. Talk about the role played in biblical stories during this time period. Identify the role of personal identity with portraiture. Compare and contrast portraiture from the Renaissance period through contemporary art.
Activity:
Have students work in their sketchbooks on practice portraiture. Draw features separately, adding hair and skin textures where necessary.
Ask students to compare their studies to the sketchbook work of Renaissance artists. Plan a portrait of someone in their life such as their mother. Create color studies and media samples in their sketchbooks.
Have students create an oil pastel portrait of a woman in their life that is important and considered their main role model. This woman would be their mother or grandmother, maybe an aunt. The style of the work is to be in Italian Renaissance. The role of the subject is meant to be very crucial and important such as a biblical figure or religious role model.
Materials:
Sketchbook/drawing paper, watercolor paper, oil pastels, linseed oil or paint thinner, graphite, blending stump, ruler, image of female, copies of the image
Assessment: Did the student connect portraiture to his or her own life? How did the student connect the historical aspect of portrait work to their artwork.
Discussion Questions:
- What makes portraits important to art history?
- If I were to create a portrait whom would I make one of? Why?
- What makes a Renaissance portrait relative to my life?
- How does identity play a roll in portrait art?
Have students research and review Renaissance artwork as well as contemporary portrait artists.
Discuss portrait works specifically. Artist to discuss are Rembrandt van Rijn, Leonardo Da Vinci, Van Eyck, Diego Velasquez, Lucien Freud, Cecelia Beaux and Steve Penley.
Discuss the religious meanings as well as purpose behind art created during the Renaissance era.
Discuss the use of women in art as well as women as portrait artists. Talk about the role played in biblical stories during this time period. Identify the role of personal identity with portraiture. Compare and contrast portraiture from the Renaissance period through contemporary art.
Activity:
Have students work in their sketchbooks on practice portraiture. Draw features separately, adding hair and skin textures where necessary.
Ask students to compare their studies to the sketchbook work of Renaissance artists. Plan a portrait of someone in their life such as their mother. Create color studies and media samples in their sketchbooks.
Have students create an oil pastel portrait of a woman in their life that is important and considered their main role model. This woman would be their mother or grandmother, maybe an aunt. The style of the work is to be in Italian Renaissance. The role of the subject is meant to be very crucial and important such as a biblical figure or religious role model.
Materials:
Sketchbook/drawing paper, watercolor paper, oil pastels, linseed oil or paint thinner, graphite, blending stump, ruler, image of female, copies of the image
Assessment: Did the student connect portraiture to his or her own life? How did the student connect the historical aspect of portrait work to their artwork.
