Lesson by: Judy Decker
Unit: Painting - Renaissance Art
Lesson Plan: Portrait - Parody
Grade Level: 8th 
Math-Science Extension - Eye Placement Theory

The Renaissance Connection - interactive educational web site. View Flash or html version (Flash is much more fun). With the simple click of a mouse button, travel 500 years into the past to discover many Renaissance innovations revealed through the Allentown Art Museum's Samuel H. Kress Collection of European art. Quality interdisciplinary lesson plans included - geared from middle school.

Teacher Preparation:

Collect a number of Renaissance portraits - either post card sizes or from the Internet. I had a number of images printed to abut 4" by 6".  Make transparency grids on photocopier.

Motivation:

1.      Video: Florence: Cradle of the Renaissance
2.      Video: Masters of Illusion
3.            Shorewood Art prints of da Vinci, Fra Angelica, Giotto, Raphael, and others
4.      Assorted postcard color prints of Renaissance art
5.      Demonstrations of upside down drawing and grid drawing
6.      Demonstrations of painting  and collage techniques
7.      Demonstrate added 3-d elements, frame possibilities
8.      Internet research and Leonardo da Vinci CD ROM.

Procedures:

1.                 View video Florence: Cradle of the Renaissance

2.                Critique works of Renaissance Artists- select one image to write about- include elements and principles of design vocabulary (chapter 2 in text).  Include "feeling" words

3.                 Select one Renaissance work as inspiration for portrait print.  Draw portrait on 9x12 paper by turning card upside down -- cover image, revealing only one inch at a time -- draw contours very slowly

4.                 Choose same image - of select a different image -- place 1" grid overlay over postcard print -- select an area of interest approximately 4" x  6"

5.                 Draw a grid in proportion on larger paper - each 1" block will equal a 3" or 4" block on larger paper--depending on size of original print. See Grid Lesson - two examples are shown).

6.                 Draw what you see in each block -- go slowly paying close attention to each block

7.                 Gesso corrugated cardboard to seal surface (allow to dry)

8.                 Transfer drawing to board using carbon paper (tape drawing with two small pieces of masking tape)

9.                 Plan background--May use wall paper, magazine cut-outs for landscape, photographs of home (scanned into computer), any scanned landscape or digital image from the Internet. May paint background if desired.

10.             Complete background (remember Renaissance characteristics)

11.             Paint and collage figure--remember to bring up-to-date in some way. Make a parody. Students may use own face (digital photo) and own hands (digital photo). Add lace and fabric trims - beads - etc. if desired. Accent with squeeze paints and paint markers, if desired.

Evaluation:

Student self-evaluation.

Student critique, Writing assignment   (take home exam)

Grade form - composition, painting, color plan, parody, craftsmanship, originality, effort

AN EYE-PLACEMENT PRINCIPLE IN 500 YEARS OF PORTRAITS Christopher W. Tyler Smith-Kettlewell Eye Reseach Institute, San Francisco See also: Eye Placement Principles In Portraits And Figure Studies Over The Past Two Millennia

Students as Researcher - Math Integration - Aesthetics Have students test this theory in Renaissance portrait prints that you have available: that in paintings the dominant eye  is centered within the painting. Christopher W. Tyler of Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute studied 282 portraits created over five hundred years and reached an interesting conclusion: "The eye centering with an accuracy of ~1 eye width is barely mentioned in art criticism, suggesting that unconscious functions operate in our aesthetic judgments." Tyler offers several hypothesis for his discovery and has some statistics to prove his theory. Note from Judy: My student work above seems to follow as well...One eye is placed near center intuitively (as these works were done with no knowledge of this study) Complete pdf file is available

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