LOOK INSIDE VOL. 4, ARTISTS THAT SHAPED THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
This page welcomes your child to the Italian Renaissance, "a time that seemed to be made for the artist."
This page directs you and your child to the DVD or Blu-ray provided for viewing the lesson on how to use watercolor paints. Your child will learn techniques in ways that they can remember. "Swish, swish swith, pull. Dab, dab, dab, paint!
Prep Notes for adults add to the lesson by getting you and your child ready.
Text lessons feature stories of the artists, with emphasis on what each artist is remembered for. Here children learn that men started working together in guilds in order to solve their problems.
This two page spread features a work by the master, Cimabue. Children learn that the gold was made from sheets of pounded metal and the blue was crushed from a blue mineral shown here.
As children look at the work by Cimabue, they count angels, look for stamping in the gold, and ponder whether the artist has chosen a natural setting for his figures or invented a grand setting.
Children are ready to make art as they use gold sheets and colored pigments of their own. Each artwork will be unique depending on the preferences of each child.
The next text lesson features a student of Cimabue's, Giotto. It's a lovely story of how an artist discovered the talent of a young boy, that has been passed down through the ages.
In this artwork by Giotto, children learn that "Giotto used blue lavishly in all the scenes for the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, where the paintings line the walls and stars cover the ceiling." They are asked to look at the gestures of the angels.
Children are reminded that Giotto painted people that "bend, move, and show real emotions." Examples are shown for ways to show gestures.
In this Prep Note page, an activity is given to help children discover the three common subjects that we see in the backgrounds of Italian Renaissance paintings. By having children look for a landscape or a window, we help them to learn how to recognize a common feature of Italian Renaissance painting.
This story introduces a girl who would become a noted Italian painter. "What kind of job do you dream of having when you grow up? Sofonisba might never have dreamed that she would travel to another country to work for a queen. That is just what she did, all because of her love for painting."
In the master work we see Sofonisba's sisters playing a game of chess.
Students are encouraged to work with oil pastels on colored paper to make a picture of family.
Video lessons feature instruction on how to use a new medium or technique like fresco painting.
Children observe the world around them like the Limbourg Brothers did as they painted the life of the Duke of Berry.
Children make a print of a great creature like the dragon in Raphael's painting, St. George and the Dragon.
Children look at the great figures of Michelangelo.