lesson point

8/3/2019 Lesson Point

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BACKGROUND

Different Pointsof View

Allentown Art MuseumAllentown Art Museum 1

Renaissance

ONNECTIONONNECTION Lessonesson PlansPlansLesson PlansClass: Language Arts

Theme(s):

Patrons & Lifestyle

Aureus of Septimius Severus,

with a portrait of Julia

Domna, ca.93-96 A.DSeveran, Roman; Gold; Diam.0.78 in. (2 cm)Gift of Joseph H. Durkee,1899 (99.35.218)

The Metropolitan Museumof Art

Giovanni del BiondoMystic Marriage of Saint Catherine Alexandria,

detail,About 1379Tempera on panel

Arts & Architecture

Biondo began painting portraits of sitters turned inthree-quarter view. When these paintings reachedFlorence, they were very much admired. Unlike theprofile, which did not add much to the individuality ofthe portrait's subject, the three-quarter pose brokedown the barriers between the subject and the viewerby allowing the subject to look out of the portraitdirectly at the viewer.

This new communication between the subject and theviewers of the portrait opened the door to portraiture

hat explored the character of a person as well as theway he or she looked. A portrait of a person's facebecame a metaphor for the person's self, and to have

your portrait painted, meant your image might livebeyond you. The idea was so appealing thatmerchants and tradesmen, not just royalty and churchleaders, began to commission portraits of themselvesand their families.

Imagine that you never saw a picture of anyone you knew. No photographs offriends and family, no advertising posters or billboards, no one familiar ontelevision or in the movies, no painted or sculpted portraits of real people, onlypeople who no one had seen for centuries like Jesus and the saints. That's whatlife was like in Europe before the Renaissance. The portrait that we know today, apicture that captures the likeness of a person, was revolutionary during theRenaissance.

1200 years before the Renaissance (around 100 A.D.), portraits of the rulers ofancient Rome were sculpted on metal coins and spread throughout thecountryside. Coins were easy to carry and easy to distribute, reaching citizens farand wide to announce and identify images of the leaders of Rome. Once ancienRome stopped producing these images, portraiture in Europe disappeared untilItalians first began torepresent images of realpeople in the 1300s. Theymodeled the portraits onthe coins recovered fromancient Rome. In Florence

artists like Giovanni del
http://www.renaissanceconnection.org/popup_mysticMarriage.php


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DIFFERENT POINTS OF VIEW: BACKGROUND (continued)


Renaissancethe ONNECTIONONNECTION Lessonesson PlansPlansLesson Plans

Follower of Bartolomeo Vivarini

Portrait of a Boy,

About 1499

Tempera type on panel

This Portrait

of a Boy, in

three-

quarter

pose, isfrom Venice

Italy around

1499.

The role of the artist changed as well; artists needed the ability to

capture a pleasing likeness of a real person rather than imagine

the likeness of a saint. Galeazzo Maria Sforza, the Duke of Milan

from 1466 to 1476, sent his court painter to France to make a

portrait of a princess of Savoy he was thinking of marrying. Thewoman in the portrait was so beautiful that the Duke married her

by immediately authorizing a substitute to stand in his place in

France. When the new bride arrived in Milan, the Duke's court

reported that she was even more beautiful than her picture, and

younger looking too! The artist who was sent to France to paint a

portrait of the princess knew that to disappoint the Duke with a

portrait more beautiful than the real princess would risk his

position as court painter.

At the beginning of the Renaissance, most patrons, like the Duke

of Milan, provided detailed instructions to artists about how the art

they were paying for should look. As the Renaissance continued,artists began to assert their own views about art and their own

independent ideas and styles. An artist of today, valued for their

original creativity and individual artistic vision, has the

Renaissance to thank for his or her independence.

During the Renaissance, artists began to paint portraits of themselves to advertise their skill and promote their

images as talented and sensitive observers. The new Renaissance innovations in portraiture spread all over

Europe and the portraiture that developed in the Renaissance remains much the same today. While we may

use new materials and techniques like photography or video, capturing the essence of another person, both

the way they look and the kind of person they are, is an idea that began in the Renaissance.
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RESOURCECampbell, Lorne: European Portrait-Painting in the 14th, 15th and 16th Centuries, New Haven: Yale UniversityPress, 1990.

CLASSROM TIMEOne or two 40 minute periods

OBJECTIVESStudents will: Creatively apply the written word to produce an essay from two differing points of view. Practice observing and analyzing the details of a work of art. Learn to formulate individual opinions based on observation. Understand how differing opinions can be based on analyzing a work of art (or person or event) from

another person's point of view. Learn to use facts to back up an argument or prove a point.

PENNSYLVANIA ACADEMIC STANDARDS

Arts and Humanities

9.3.8 A. Know and use critical process of the examination of works in the arts and humanities. Compare and contrast

Analyze

9.3.8 G. Compare and contrast critical positions or opinions about selected works in the arts and humanities.

Language Arts1.1.8 G. Demonstrate after reading understanding and interpretation of both fiction and nonfiction text,

including public documents. Make and support with evidence assertions about text.

Compare and contrast texts using themes, settings, characters, and ideas.

1.5.8 B. Write well developed content appropriate for the topic. Write paragraphs that have details and information specific to the topic and relevant to the focus.

MATERIALS LCD Projection or large display-sized reproductions of any one portrait in the Renaissance Connection-- Portra

of a Boy(Follower of Bartolomeo Vivarini), The Standard Bearer(Dosso Dossi), Portrait of George, Duke ofSaxony(Lucas Cranach), Portrait of a Gentleman(Girolamo Romanino), Portrait of a Lady( NetherlandishMaster), Portrait of Anton Fugger(Hans Maler), Portrait of a Venetian Commander(Domenico Tintoretto), Captaof the Infantry, Marching Left(Hendrik Goltzius), Portrait of Durer(Erhard Schon) and Bean Eater(AnnibaleCarracci)

Different Points of View Writing Assignment Sample Blackboard or white board

OPTIONAL RESOURCESThe "Background" section of this lesson, reproduced as a student handout.

DIFFERENT POINTS OF VIEW (continued)


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Renaissancethe ONNECTIONONNECTION Lessonesson PlansPlansLesson PlansDIFFERENT POINTS OF VIEW (continued)

WRITING LESSON

1. Setting the Stage

(Note: The background section of this lesson might serve as a handout to help students in this activity.)

The Renaissance was a time of great innovation in the art of portraiture -- a drawing, painting, or otherrepresentation of someone's face. Before the Renaissance most Europeans thought that a work of art shouldonly represent heavenly figures of the church -- Christ and his holy family and saints. But during the Renaissancepeople began to see themselves as worthy of portraits, and artists began to learn the skills needed to create alikeness of a real person sitting in front of them. But portraits in the Renaissance represented more than just whaa person looked like. Eventually Renaissance portraits began to represent a person's character, and how theartist felt about that person. In this assignment you'll examine that relationship between the subject of aRenaissance portrait and the artist who painted it by writing about the portrait from both of these points of view.

2. The Renaissance Connection

Display the portraitBean Eaterfrom the Renaissance Connectionand ask the students to brainstorm ideas that

they could include in an essay from the artist's point of view and from the point of view of the portrait's subject.To help students follow the discussion, record the their ideas and comments on a blackboard or white board intwo columns: "Artist's Point of View" and "Subject's Point of View."

Possible brainstorming questions include: What do you see (visual inventory of the work)? What is the subject of the portrait wearing? What does the clothing tell us about the subject? Where is the subject situated? Home? Restaurant? Pub? How can you tell? What other items do you see in the background? What do they tell us about the subject? What time of day is it? How can you tell? Is this important? Why or why not? How much space does the portrait's subject take up?

How much depth is shown? Describe the colors and textures in the portrait. How do you think the subject of this portrait feels? How can you tell? Can you describe his personality by looking at him? Do you think the subject of this portrait knew the artist? How can you tell? Do you think the artist knew the subject of this portrait? How can you tell? What does the artist want the viewer to think about or feel about the portrait? Why do you think the artist painted this portrait? Other thoughts or comments from the artist's point of view? Other thoughts or comments from the subject's point of view?

Once they have completed the brainstorming distribute the "Different Points of View Writing Assignment Sample"handout. Review the sample with students to see how their ideas can be transformed from ideas to a written essay

Next, have students choose a different portrait from the Renaissance Connectionand write an essay from thepoint of view of both the artist and the subject of the portrait. Depending on the size of your class, more than onstudent will have to select the same portrait as there are a limited number of images. Have students refer to the

brainstorm list generated by the class as an example of the kinds of questions they should ask themselves abou

the portrait they choose to write about. Allow students to read about the portraits in the Renaissance Connection

and include information in their essay that is relevant. Inform students of the assessment procedures prior to


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Renaissancethe ONNECTIONONNECTION Lessonesson PlansPlansLesson PlansDIFFERENT POINTS OF VIEW: WRITING LESSON (continued)

starting this project. (See #4. Assessment below.)

3. Summary

Allow students to share their essays with the class. Organize the presentations to allow students who wrote abou

the same portrait to present in sequence to illustrate how one work of art can be interpreted in a variety of ways

4. Assessment - Scoring Rubric:

VOCABULARYportrait: a painting, drawing, bust, photograph, or other representation of a real person, living or dead, especiallof the face.

profile: a representation of somebody's face as seen from the side.

three-quarter pose: a representation of somebody turned part way between a profile and a full frontal view ofthe face.

DIFFERENT POINTS OF VIEW: WRITING ASSIGNMENT EXAMPLES

The Artist's Point of ViewAnnibale Caracci:

I chose to paint the portrait of Giacomo as a study; a still life of sorts. I wished to render a commoner, as hewould have been seen in every day life. Other artists focus on the mythical, allegorical or religious subjects thatare so popular now. I must admit that I also need to make a living and have done my share of that kind of workBut there are still times between major commissions, in which I practice my craft to improve my abilities. It cannobe emphasized too much, that in order to improve, novice painters must practice.

Criteria Limited

Achievement

Sound High AchievementFacts Includes objective,

indisputable facts ("Thesky is blue and gray.")

Includes a multitude offacts and descriptions.

Includes accurate factsand descriptions basedon observation andinformation about thework of art from theRenaissance Connection

Opinions Includes opinions ("Thesky is beautiful")

Includes opinions andrationale ("The sky isbeautiful because...")

Includes opinions andrationale, based onobservable evidence inthe work of art.

Artist andSubject

Includes a multitude ofthoughts and ideas ofboth artist and subject.

Thoughts and ideas ofartist and subject arepersuasive and expressa specific point of view.

Grammar andSpelling

Spelling is correct. Punctuation andspelling are correct.

Punctuation, grammarand spelling are correct.

Layout andGraphics

Fonts are readable andtext is placed logically.

Fonts are readable, textis placed logically anddocument contains atleast one graphic image.

Fonts are readable, textand graphics are placedlogically.

Includes thoughts ofboth artist and subject.

Achievement


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Renaissancethe ONNECTIONONNECTION Lessonesson PlansPlansLesson PlansDIFFERENT POINTS OF VIEW (continued)

In regard to this painting, I am always asked, "Who is this man?" To

answer this question I invoke the viewer's creativity as well as his

intellect. Note the cuisine. What is this man eating? The answer is

beans and bread, pig's feet and wine. I ask you, who would willingly

eat such a meal? A starving peasant, perhaps? Or an elegantconnoisseur who enjoys a variety of dishes? Note the setting. Giacomo

may be feasting in a royal kitchen considering the elegant robe in the

background, the marvelous glass goblet and fine silver being used. His

garments also indicate a person with some sense of culture. On the

other hand, this dimly lit scene suggests the meal to be a secret

activity. Or the place may be a simple house incapable of proper

lighting. The truth is that I wish the subject to remain anonymous.

Viewers should, on their own, ask themselves these questions, notice

the details and arrive at an opinion as to who they think this person

is. At times, life is much more interesting when the answers remain

mysteries.

The Subject's Point of View

The Bean Eater:

"I was hungry and you gave me food, thirsty and you gave me drink." So our Lord will speak to those who pass

on to the next life. I can only say, "Thank you, dear sir, for giving me this meal! Even though I have no stately

bearing, no official claim to aristocracy, you still took me in and gave me this delicious food."

But now as I eat, I find that, in addition to feeling grateful, a small feeling of unease. You seem to be studying me

as if I am the subject of a classroom lecture. Why do you stare at me so? Am I not using proper manners? Is ther

a piece of food stuck to my lips? Maybe I can strike up a conversation to ease the tension:

"Tell me, good sir, what is it that you do for a living? Oh, you are an artist! A painter. I have always wished I had

such an elegant talent. But it must be difficult to earn a living as a painter, no? Yes, I understand that it's difficult toearn a living in any occupation. May I be so bold as to ask to see one of your paintings? Later? Yes, of course. I

should finish eating first."

Oh no, not another uncomfortable silence. Once again he is studying me. I am afraid I may be put into one of

his paintings. Maybe he will use my face as the face of St. John the Baptist, or St. Luke, or even an angel. Won't

my father be proud to see my face in a painting! I can't wait to tell him! But first I must choke down these

hooves... I really shouldn't have eaten all the beans first.

Annibale Carraci

The Bean Eater

about 1582/83

Oil on canvas
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