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The Worlds of the Renaissance: Projects - Sally Sperling

Leonardo da Vinci & Renaissance Art

Activities 1 A and B:

INTRODUCTION:

Many innovations developed in art during the Renaissance. Artists, analyzing Greek and Roman pieces, made their own figures and nature scenes more lifelike. Shading and perspective gave paintings depth. Studies of anatomy brought realism to the painting and sculpting of the human body. Leonardo used these techniques in his masterpieces The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa.

Leonardo was a sculptor, philosopher, inventor, writer, botanist, city-planner, engineer, musician, mathematician, and painter. His skills and knowledge in many fields earned him the title "Renaissance man". He believed that art was the path to knowledge.

TIME:

1 period

MATERIALS & PREPARATION:

Two days before this activity instruct students to bring a picture of a human face to class.
They might look in magazines, the newspaper, or make a photocopy of a family member's photograph. The face should be as large as possible-at least half the size of an 8X11" sheet of paper.

Class set (or transparency) of Leonardo's ideal face.

Examples of Leonardo's works (slides, transparencies, books).

Class set of heavy white paper and dark construction paper. (Use a paper cutter to trim both these so that they will fit nicely on a sheet of notebook paper. The construction paper should be the larger of the two.)

Glue, scissors, rulers. If you have access to the Sister Wendy's Story of Painting BBC videos, she does a glorious job of discussing "Mona" on the Renaissance tape. Students will enjoy this.

OBJECTIVE:

To appreciate Leonardo's work and experience the talents it required.

PROCEDURES:

ACTIVITY 1 A - Right page of notebook*
  1. On a right-side page of their notebooks, students will take notes on Leonardo and draw a sketch during procedures 2-6 of this first activity.
  2. Display examples of Leonardo's works and discuss his use of detail, accuracy, lines, colors, light, and forms (pyramid).
  3. Distribute Leonardo's sketch and description of the ideal face and discuss the mathematics involved.

    ideal face Head is oval, slightly larger at the top. Eyes center in this shape. Bottom of nose is halfway between chin and eyes. Bottom of mouth is halfway between bottom of nose and chin. Eyebrows line up with tops of ears.

  4. Have students face a partner and quickly sketch each other's faces using these measurements.

LEONARDO ACTIVITY 1 B - Left side page of notebook*

  1. Have students discuss the authenticity of an ideal face.
  2. Students will then cut out the head from the example they brought from home.
  3. Instruct students to cut the face in half vertically (right through the center of the nose!) They will use rulers to divide the picture and then crumple and discard one half (Important).
  4. Students will then glue the remaining half to a sheet of white paper leaving room to draw in the missing half. The white sheet should then be glued to a sheet of construction paper which will, in turn, be glued to the left side page of the notebook opposite the notes on Leonardo.
    Professionals will leave a tad larger margin at the bottom than at the top of the construction paper.
  5. Using pencil, the students will individually draw the missing section of the face using art techniques learned from their study of the Renaissance.
  6. Have class take a "museum tour" of the resulting masterpieces by walking past each others' desks.


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