Mr. Gosnell s Renaissance Art Performance Task. Get Out Your Art Materials!

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1 Mr. Gosnell s Renaissance Art Performance Task Get Out Your Art Materials! In the Renaissance wealthy merchants could afford many luxuries, and fine art beautified their homes and showed their wealth. In addition, with subjects besides religious scenes and heroes being presented, many patrons ordered portraits. The Renaissance artist needed to capture a pleasing likeness of a real person. Princes often sent artists to the courts of other rulers for portraits of princesses they were thinking of marrying. The Duke of Milan ordered just such a portrait. When the beautiful princess arrived in Milan, he found her even more beautiful than the portrait he had commissioned to be painted. The artist reported that he feared if his painting made the princess more beautiful than she actually was, he would lose his position as court painter! In Flanders, now part of France and Belgium, a new style of portrait was begun in which the subject posed with three quarters of the face toward the painter. Before, the side profile had been painted. This new style was so much more intimate because the subject looks the viewer in the eye. Also this new style created a relationship between the painter and the subject that allowed the artist to explore with his art the character of the person. Having a portrait meant your image might live beyond you after your death. This ideal appealed to merchants, tradesmen, churchmen, and nobility. Your Task From the list of Renaissance painters, your teacher will assign you a painting for you to draw and color. Some are religious, some are portraits, and some are large scenes. In addition, Research Renaissance art techniques, your artist, and the individual painting. Take notes in your own words. Any plagiarism will result in a grade of zero. Answer the questions below using at least 4 paragraphs. The title of your essay should be the name of your painting and artist. 1. biographical information, no more than 25% of the paper 2. information about the specific painting or subject (as to why it is a classic) 3. characteristics of Renaissance art that apply to your artist 4. your reaction-what stands out, how do the people in the painting feel, what can you see of the life of the day, what might the people in the painting be feeling. Is there a special activity? Why is this painting considered a Masterpiece? This is your most original part of the paper. Print the painting you have selected and save the URL address so you can repeatedly access the painting. Color it as best you can with pencils or ink. (One way is to grid the original and then grid the same size on your paper to draw small areas rather than the whole picture at once.) Your drawing and information should be mounted on a poster or turned in with a folder in which your materials will be secure.

2 Painters and Their Creations Adoration of the Magi The Annunciation Mona Lisa Saint John the Baptist The Last Supper Armada Portrait of Queen Elizabeth The Beggars Hunters in the Snow Tower of Babel Landscape with the Fall of Icarus Delphic Sybil The Creation Saint Francis of Assisi Henry VIII Lady Margaret Butts Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and Wife Madonna of the Chair School of Athens Saint Catherine of Alexandria Portrait of a Man with a Quilted Sleeve Man in a Red Cap Primavera Self-Portrait Leonardo da Vinci George Gower Brueghel Michelangelo Giotto Holbein Jan van Eyck Raphael Titian Botticelli Durer

3 These are just some ideas to help you analyze the painting: 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? Beginning in the 1430s, artists in Flanders began painting portraits of sitters turned in three-quarter view. When these paintings reached Florence, they were very much admired. Unlike the profile, which did not add much to the individuality of the portrait's subject, the three-quarter pose broke down the barriers between the subject and the viewer by allowing the subject to look out of the portrait directly at the viewer. This new communication between the subject and the viewers of the portrait opened the door to portraiture that explored the character of a person as well as the way he or she looked. A portrait of a person's face became a metaphor for the person's self, and to have your portrait painted, meant your image might live beyond you. The idea was so appealing that merchants and tradesmen, not just royalty and church leaders, began to commission portraits of themselves and their families. What other characteristics can you find? Emphasis on human anatomy Realistic shading- soft modeling of the figure Correct proportions of the figure - more life-like Emphasis on showing three-dimensional space Utilizing tools of perspective

4 Architectural elements Showing emotions Interest in nature and the world around them What other themes of subjects are represented? Religious - Mother and child, Biblical stories and heroes David the Giant killer - (youth) Portraiture and self-portraits (wealthy in Italy, Northern Renaissance did show common people) Nature Architecture Classical - Greek and Roman mythology Human anatomy Saints, angels 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. The woman 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.

5 6th Grade Social Studies Research Pathfinder - Renaissance Art and Artists Where to start and how to find it: Library Catalog select River Trail Middle School, then click on the green Catalog tab to begin your search. Use the index in books and encyclopedias to locate specific topics. BOOKS: 709 BAR Artists of the Renaissance 709 FIT The Renaissance 709 KUH Leonardo DaVinci 709 MER History of Art from Ancient to Modern Times 750 LEV Renaissance Paintings NER Michelangelo 909 MAC The World in the Time of Leonardo Da Vinci MAT The Renaissance REN The Renaissance LAN Leonardo & His Times 945 OSM Italian Renaissance B DaV Leonardo DaVinci B DaV Leonardo DaVinci for Kids B MIC Michelangelo 920 KRU Lives of the Artists 920 REN Renaissance: Artists and Writers REF 709 ENC Encyclopedia of Artists, 6 volumes REF 920 GAL Artists: from Michelangelo to Maya Lin, 4 volumes To access the following web sites, go to then select Media Center, then Pathfinders. This link will take you to Renaissance Art and Artists. COMPUTERS: School use: User ID rivertrail password wolves Home use: User ID rivertrailhome password wolves Select the High School or the Teens page and type in your keyword(s) to access encyclopedia, magazine, and newspaper articles: (password for at home use ragtime) For use at home: User name fultonsd password home. USE THESE WEB SITES TO LOCATE INFORMATION YOU NEED: Renaissance Artists WebMuseum Italian Renaissance Artists Renaissance Art Renaissance Painting Renaissance Artists

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7 Name Painting Title Rubric for Renaissance Art Performance Task Criteria Excellent Good Fair Poor Biographical Sketch 20 points Art Replica 40 points Personal reaction 20 points Contains all information listed on directions Includes original painting and carefully completed hand-drawn shadow completion. Uses color and closely imitates the original. Describes details of what you see in the painting. Analyzes the character of the subject. Mentions artistic style used by original painter. Contains most information written clearly Shows some effort to duplicate the original artist s work. Neat and used color. Does two of the three requested in the previous box well. Or does satisfactory job on details, character, and Contains some information and may have errors Art seems hurriedly or incorrectly done. Little effort to duplicate the original master. Shows little involvement with the art, subject, or Poster 10 points Composing 10 points Titled, neat, artistically displayed more than two spelling, or punctuation, Written in interesting style in 3 paragraphs. Not titled, not as neatly displayed more than four spelling, or punctuation. Written in clear Shows little effort and thoroughness more than six punctuation, or spelling. Some sentence errors. Poorly done Poorly written TOTAL:

8 Name Painting Title Rubric for Renaissance Art Performance Task Criteria Excellent Good Fair Poor Biographical Sketch 20 points Art Replica 40 points Personal reaction 30 points Contains all information listed on directions Includes original painting and carefully completed hand-drawn shadow completion. Uses color and closely imitates the original. Describes details of what you see in the painting. Analyzes the character of the subject. Mentions artistic style used by original painter. Contains most information written clearly Shows some effort to duplicate the original artist s work. Neat and used color. Does two of the three requested in the previous box well. Or does satisfactory job on details, character, and Contains some information and may have errors Art seems hurriedly or incorrectly done. Little effort to duplicate the original master. Shows little involvement with the art, subject, or Composing 10 points more than two spelling, or punctuation, Written in interesting style in 3 paragraphs. more than four spelling, or punctuation. Written in clear more than six punctuation, or spelling. Some sentence errors. Poorly written TOTAL:

Essential Question: How did the Renaissance change art in Western Europe?

Essential Question: How did the Renaissance change art in Western Europe? Warm-Up Question: Define these terms: Renaissance Humanism Classicism Why did the Renaissance begin in Italy? What factors led