MONA LISA. If no - MtmHomeSchool4Art.commtmhomeschool4art.com/uploaded_lessons/Track F/unit_2/track-f_unit... · (MONA LISA. If no ... Mona in Italian means “madame,” and her

LEONARDO DA VINCI– AGES 8 – 9 | ONLINE EDITION

Step 1 - Introducing the Leonardo Da Vinci Slideshow Guide BEGIN READING HERE

MOTIVATION I’m going to begin today with a question. What is the best-known painting in the world? I’ll give you a hint. It is a PORTRAIT, and the face in the portrait is instantly recognized in every continent of the world! Can you guess the title of this masterpiece? (MONA LISA. If no answer…) I’ll give you a hint. Mona….. (MONA LISA) Raise your hand if you can picture Mona Lisa in your mind. You’ve seen her face in ads, in news articles, on television, and in books. Everyone is very familiar with the Mona Lisa, but do we really know much about this famous painting? Can you picture what is in the background of the Mona Lisa? Who was this lady? Was she famous when it was painted? What did the artist do to get her to have that mysterious expression on her face? So maybe the Mona Lisa is known by sight to everyone, but there is so much more to discover about the woman and the master artist, Leonardo da Vinci, who painted this famous portrait. Let’s take a close look at the Mona Lisa.

Click Start Lesson To Begin

1. MONA LISA Let’s see if you can guess the age of Mona Lisa. Let me tell you something about her as you try to decide how old she was. Mona in Italian means “madame,” and her full name was Lisa del Giocondo (Gee-o-KAHN-doe). She was the wife of a merchant in the large Italian city of Florence. It was the custom to marry young in the 1500’s, because people did not live as long as they do now. Lisa was just sixteen when she married Francesco. He was nineteen years older than she, and Lisa was his third wife. The first two had died young. With that background information, how old do you think Lisa was when da Vinci started her portrait? Do you think she was between 15-20? 20-25? 25-30? Lisa was twenty-four years old. Francesco asked Leonardo to do Lisa’s portrait, but he wasn’t very hopeful that Leonardo would agree. To her husband’s surprise, when Leonardo saw Lisa, he agreed to paint her portrait. He refused other jobs, and spent the next three years on the painting. And what about that expression on her face? Leonardo filled her house with musicians and acrobats to entertain Lisa while she posed. He tried to change her sad expression. Do you

1 LEONARDO DA VINCI – Ages 8 – 9 | MeetTheMasters Online Edition


think he succeeded? People for centuries have wondered what she was thinking or feeling. What do you say? Do you think she really is smiling? Let’s try an experiment. Cover the right side of her mouth with your hand. Close one eye and block out the right side and see if you change your mind. Do you see a difference between the two corners of her mouth? (YES) Looking closely at her hair, what do you notice? (THIN VEIL, HEADBAND, OR SCARF) Da Vinci, unlike most artists of that time, sketched with the model in front of him, noting every detail. But how long did Leonardo work on this portrait? (THREE YEARS) Certainly, Lisa did not sit for all those years. So after he sketched every detail, he might have used his dictionary. Through the years he had put together a drawing dictionary of heads, eyes, noses, mouths, chins, throats, and shoulders. For example, in his sketches of noses, he had ten different noses in profile, eleven full-face noses. So do we know whether Mona Lisa was painted the way she really looked, or did da Vinci choose sketches from his dictionary to finish her portrait? No one knows for sure. So the mystery of Mona Lisa continues! Mona Lisa was pretty, gentle, and quiet. Now think of something exactly the opposite - ugly, wild, and noisy. Ready?

Click Next To Change Slide

DEVELOPMENT

2. five grotesque heads Were you surprised? Does this look funny to you? (YES) Here is another side to Leonardo da Vinci’s artwork. This drawing, titled Five Grotesque Heads, shows a comical, or funny, side. Can you silently make your face look like the man in the upper left corner? (POINT OUT) Do you feel silly? But where would he find such faces as these? It was Leonardo’s habit to wander through the streets in search of an unusual face. He was so delighted when he saw an unusual head that he would follow anyone who attracted his attention for a whole day. He would watch them and sketch so carefully that when he got home, he could draw the person as well as if they were sitting before him. What do you think da Vinci enjoyed doing more, drawing or painting? Leonardo was happier making quick drawings and sketches than with the tedious process of finishing a painting. Da Vinci was a master at drawing. His drawings were sometimes strong, sometimes trembling. He used his drawings not only to fix ideas for future paintings but also to illustrate his studies.



Let’s take a piece of paper and start a list of da Vinci’s talents, because you will be amazed at what a genius he was in so many different areas! Which two can we start with? (PAINTING, DRAWING AND SKETCHING) As you see the next painting, you will discover another talent of Leonardo’s to add to our list. You will discover this talent if you can tell what this young man did for a living.


3. PORTRAIT OF MUSICIAN Can you tell what this man did? (MUSICIAN) How could you tell? (HOLDS SHEET OF MUSIC AT BOTTOM RIGHT) This portrait of a musician shows us another talent of Leonardo’s. He was a gifted musician. (Add to list: 3. Musician) Not only could he play the lyre (lye-are) beautifully, he even designed and built his own instrument. A lyre was like a small hand-held harp, and da Vinci had no ordinary design for his lyre. It was made of silver in the shape of a horse’s skull. Remember his drawing dictionary of faces and features? For this picture he sketched each detail with SHADING to make it look realistic and rounded. There is another reason it looks so real. Da Vinci actually measured the musician’s face and body to make sure he had it perfect. Besides his great skill in drawing, there is another reason the musician looks so real. In Leonardo’s own words he will tell you how he knew these hands “from the inside out.”


4. ANATOMY

“I pulled back the skin on a great confusion of veins, arteries, nerves, tendons, muscles, and bones, all red and sticky with the blood that makes everything look the same.” What is Leonardo talking about? (DISSECTING BODIES) A doctor studies the body by going to ANATOMY classes in medical school. Da Vinci studied the body in the same way. He would use surgical instruments to dissect bodies to learn what was under the skin. The first years of work on the Mona Lisa found him devoting much of his time to studies of anatomy. For four years he lived in a hospital. Can you guess why? (TO GET DEAD BODIES) He said it didn’t bother him at all, and he bragged of having taken apart more than thirty bodies of men and women of all ages. As he dissected, he drew what he learned and added notes to explain his discoveries. What part of the body did he study here? (ARMS AND HANDS) There must have been many



days when da Vinci went straight from a dead body to painting Mona Lisa. In his mind he would still see the bones and veins that lay beneath that mysterious smile or those gentle-looking hands. Should we add another skill to our list? What will it be? (4. ANATOMY) There is something very unusual and fascinating I want you to notice. Look closely at the notes da Vinci wrote on this page of his dictionary. We can’t read Italian, but even if we could, we would not be able to understand his writing. If we had a mirror it would help. Can you guess what was very peculiar about his writing? (HE WROTE BACKWARDS) Have you ever heard of a person writing from right to left and forming all letters backwards? Why would he do that? Through the years there have been different ideas about the reasons. The most logical explanation is that he was left-handed and found it easier to write that way. When it was necessary to be understood by others, he wrote in the normal way. Have you ever tried writing backwards? You will get a chance in your Learning Packets to write your name backwards. Do you think this should be a talent to add to our list? (YES. ADD 5. WRITES BACKWARDS) As his dictionary of sketches grew over the years, it became a loose-leaf encyclopedia. No matter in what subject any of you might be interested, we would probably find that Leonardo was interested in it, too. He was the first man to design flying machines after studying birds.

Click Next To Change Slide 5. INVENTIONS Da Vinci had many ideas that he drew on paper. Many of these were way ahead of his time. What do these drawings look like? (SPACESHIP, TANK, WAR MACHINES) Many of da Vinci’s inventions were designed but never built, because the materials needed were not available. Do you have alarm clocks at home? Listen to what Leonardo invented to wake him up. He filled a large bowl with water and made it drip slowly into a bowl below it. When the lower bowl was full, it set off a lever that jerked his feet and woke him up! Shall we add another skill to our list? What do we call a person who invents things? (6. INVENTOR – add to list)

Click Next To Change Slide 6. SCIENCE



Do you like science? Leonardo loved science and studied it all the time. If you like science, do you also like art? If you raised your hand, you match perfectly with Leonardo. Da Vinci said that artists are the best scientists. Can you guess why? Do you think scientists are very observant? (YES) Do artists also notice a lot? (YES) Leonardo said that artists notice and watch things more carefully than most people, and they think about what they see, just like scientists. Let’s add #7 to our list. (7. SCIENTIST) We’ve learned about Leonardo’s many talents; now let’s look at his greatest masterpiece. It was painted on the wall of a dining hall used by monks in an Italian church. I want you to imagine a dinner party where the host tells his guests something so shocking that all the guests are showing tension, surprise, and disbelief as they wait for a further explanation from their host in the middle of a long table.


7. THE LAST SUPPER Do you know the title of this masterpiece? Can you find the host and point to him? Who is it? (JESUS) Who are his guests? (12 APOSTLES) The shocking news reflected in his friends’ faces was that there was a dangerous enemy seated at that very table — someone they all knew and trusted. Can you find him? (FOURTH FROM LEFT) How did you identify him? (LEANING AWAY FROM JESUS, ISOLATED FROM OTHERS) His name was Judas. Show me with your fingers how many groups of three you count in this composition. (4) Da Vinci organized the people and the colors very carefully. Notice how the color blue, on a few of the apostles, is balanced with the darkest blue wrap worn by Jesus in the center. Notice the variety of gestures emphasizing the emotions of the apostles. Find a gesture showing surprise and imitate it yourself. (REACHING, POINTING, ETC.) However, who is motionless? (JUDAS) When Leonardo searched for a model for Judas, he went to jails and the most dangerous parts of town in Milan, Italy. Do you think he succeeded in showing the character of Judas? Through the centuries, the room, holding The Last Supper, changed from a dining hall to a stable for horses. The bombings of World War II nearly destroyed the room, and it left the painting open to the outside air. Wind, rain, and sunlight – all contributed to the deterioration of the masterpiece. It was restored recently, and just like in Da Vinci’s time, people come from all over the world to admire it. You have to make reservations months in advance to have the privilege of viewing the famous fresco for a maximum of fifteen minutes. I would now like to introduce our master artist to you.

Click Next To Change Slide 8. SELF-PORTRAIT Here you see da Vinci at age sixty-two. He was living in Rome at the time he drew this. Does he seem older than sixty-two in this portrait? (YES) Outwardly he seems older than



his years and tired. What makes him seem so old, tired, and sad in this self-portrait? (LINES IN FOREHEAD, SUNKEN EYES, DOWN-TURNED MOUTH) He died five years after this drawing. When he died, he had three paintings with him. Can you guess the title of one you saw today? (MONA LISA) Leonardo was born in a small village in northern Italy named Vinci. The word “da” means “from,” so what does his full name mean in English? (LEONARDO FROM VINCI) By the age of seventeen he was already known as a brilliant, clear thinking, talented young man. His father realized his son had unusual talents, so he sent him to study for seven years with a well-known artist. People who knew him said he was sure of himself, and was even-tempered and friendly. No one really knew for sure what was on his mind, but he was fascinating to talk to because of his many interests. What did he look like as a young man? It’s hard to tell from this portrait. He was described as being elegant and graceful. He had beautiful curly and carefully combed hair that fell to the middle of his chest. Everyone spoke of his expressive face, his soft eyes, and what a genius he was.

Click Next To Change Slide 9. RENAISSANCE What was the world like in da Vinci’s lifetime? Between 1300 and 1600, life in Europe went through enormous changes. It was a new age of thinking and learning, and it is called the RENAISSANCE. People still thought the world was flat, and daring men set out to explore unknown seas. Can you name an explorer who sailed in 1492? (COLUMBUS) Do you think Leonardo da Vinci fit well into this exciting age of new ideas and inventions? (YES)


CONCLUSION As you’ve learned about the genius of da Vinci, you’ve listed his special talents. If we had more time we could double our list. Let’s take a quiz. Say True or False if the word listed is a talent that Leonardo was well known for. No peeking at our list!

QUIZ

1.Painting - T 2.Drawing –T 3.Cooking - F



4.Musician –T 5.Computer Technician - F 6.Anatomy -T 7.Writes Backward -T 8.Inventor –T 9.Professional Athlete – F 10.Politician - F 11.Scientist T

Click Next To Finish Lesson

to exit this unit click Back To Units

Step 2 - Learning From: Leonardo Da Vinci

Drawing Practice Leonardo had a talent for writing backwards. He could sign his name



or

Writing backwards is good drawing practice.

Copy each letter backwards on the line below it.

For more drawing practice, draw each figure backwards into the bow below it.



Shading Da Vinci looked very closely at plants before drawing them. Shading was an important part of

his realistic drawings. Look closely at these plants drawn by Da Vinci. Use your crayon to shade as he did. Vary your shading from dark to light by the pressure you put on your

crayon.



The last few pages of this section contain the Art Activity for Leonardo Da Vinci. This step-by-step outline will be a guide for instructing your child(ren) through the activity. The parent/instructor should review all steps necessary to complete this project before beginning any work. Cut out the Artist Profile Slip below and attach it to the back of the completed art project. LEONARDO DA VINCI (duh-VIN-chee) Italian 1452-1519

The artist of the most famous painting in the world, the Mona Lisa, was a genius at much more than painting. He was also a scientist, an inventor, a musician, and a superb draftsman. His study of plants inspired our artists to create a bright botanical painting. ART ACTIVITY EMPHASIS: Botanical Print with Realistic Details MEDIA: String, Paint LEONARDO DA VINCI (duh-VIN-chee) Italian 1452-1519

The artist of the most famous painting in the world, the Mona Lisa, was a genius at much more than painting. He was also a scientist, an inventor, a musician, and a superb draftsman. His study of plants inspired our artists to create a bright botanical painting. ART ACTIVITY EMPHASIS: Botanical Print with Realistic Details MEDIA: String, Paint



Step 3 - Working With: Art Activity Instructions ARTIST Leonardo da Vinci (duh VIN-chee) (1452-1519) Italian ART ELEMENTS Line, value

TECHNIQUE String printing with detail EMPHASIS Creating a botanical print with highlighting and shading

LEVEL Intermediate MEDIA Paper, paint, string, crayon VOCABULARY Botanical, detail, highlight, shading

PRINT Mirtillo Palustre

SUGGESTED MUSIC Music to Inspire

©

MATERIALS FOR INSTRUCTOR AND STUDENTS One 9” x 12" soft pastel spring-colored construction paper One 12” x 18" sheet of newsprint Three 36” long pieces of string for each pair of students Paper towel Artist profile slip Green and White Tempera paint and one other color (Red, Blue or Purple) thinned to 2 parts paint to 1 part water (mix each color in a paint container before distributing) Three small paint cups Sticks (coffee stirrer) One to three staplers and staples (for adults only) Scissors Glue

PREPARATION Place your demonstration materials on a table or desk where the students can gather around and see the process. Place your paint supplies on your newsprint. Have three cups for paint and the same number of strings and sticks.

SET-UP [5 minutes] Distribute the materials: SUPPLIES [2] String, sticks PAPER [4] Colored construction paper, newsprint, paper towel, and artist profile slip ORIENTATION [5 minutes] One of da Vinci’s talents was in the area of science. He studied plants and used his drawing abilities to illustrate his findings. We will paint a beautiful flowering spring plant today in a



different way than Leonardo, but our flowers will similarly show the beauty that attracted da Vinci to plants and flowers. Da Vinci inspires us to enjoy nature and combine it with our artwork as he did! DEMONSTRATION AND ACTIVITY ORGANIZE YOUR WORK AREA [3 minutes] 1.Put your newsprint at the top of your desk with the paint cups, strings, sticks, and paper towel placed on top of it. 2.Place your colored construction paper vertically on your desk. Write your name on the back of your paper. 3.Fold the construction paper in half horizontally. PAINTING THE BASIC FLOWER FIRST COLOR - GREEN [6 minutes] (Demonstration must take place on a flat surface. Have the students gather around you as you show the steps. If multiple children, the children will work in pairs and take turns (Student 1 and Student 2). If there is an odd number of students, make one group of 3. 1.Student 1 lowers his string into the cup of green paint, leaving dry only the part he is holding. Use the stick to help push the string into the paint cup and make sure the string is coated with paint. Slowly pull the string out of the paint, pinching the top of the cup together on the string to eliminate excess paint and dripping. 2.With the colored paper unfolded and starting at the top right-hand side, the string is placed in loops going down the right-hand side of the paper, ending at the bottom of that same side with only the dry part of the string extending off the paper. 3.Fold the paper in half and have Student 2 (or instructor) spread his fingers and press down firmly over the string to cover as much of the paper as possible. 4.Student 1 will slowly pull the string straight out from the bottom, gathering the string as he does to facilitate handling to make a “wet string pull.” Place the used string on the paper towel. 5.The paper is unfolded and put aside to dry. 6.Student 2 now takes the used green string and places it in loops going down the right-hand side of his paper, ending at the bottom of that same side with only the dry end of the string extending off the paper. 7.Fold the paper in half and have Student 1 spread his fingers and press down firmly over the string to cover as much of the paper as possible. 8.Student 2 will slowly pull the string straight out from the bottom of the paper to make a “dry shadow pull.” The paper is unfolded and put aside to dry. 9.Using the same green string, Student 2 becomes Student 1 and follows steps 2–9 again. In the end both partners will have a “green leaf wet string pull” and a “green dry shadow pull.” 10.Once done with a color, students will clean up while their artwork has time to dry. Wipe paint off the stirrer to use again. Have an adult collect the green paint cups and throw away the used green strings. Now you are ready for your next color.



SECOND COLOR – RED, BLUE, OR PURPLE [6 minutes] A different color is applied in the same way to the same right-hand side of the paper, looping and draping the new string in different positions on the paper. Encourage filling in the empty spaces left from the first print. Begin with the driest paper of the two partners. Try to keep red string with red paint container...etc. Each student has one wet pull with the second color. Clean up the second paint supplies before starting the third color. THIRD COLOR - WHITE [3 minutes] Each student will have a final white wet string pull. Both students will dip the string into the white paint cup before placing the string in loops down the right-hand side of the paper. There will be no white dry string shadow pull. ADDING DIMENSION [10 minutes]

1.Cut the painted paper in half, on the fold. 2.On ONE of the flower paintings, fold the left side back about ½”. 3.On that flower, HOLD THE FOLD and cut along the painted flower-shaped edge away from the fold; start at the bottom and end at the top corner of the fold. 4.Slide the uncut, unfolded flower painting into the fold behind the cut flower painting. 5.Staple the two flower paintings together along the fold, creating a backdrop for the front floral. 6.Use fingers or a pencil to curl the front flower and give a three-dimensional look to the composition. MOUNTING THE ARTIST PROFILE SLIP [2 minutes] (Profile slips for each artist are provided. They give a brief description of the artist, the technique, and the media used in the art activity. They should be mounted on the back of each art project after it is completed.) 1.Write your name on the front of the artist profile slip. 2.Using glue, mount the profile slip on the back of your artwork. 3.Encourage students to discuss their artwork at home using this artist slip of information.




CONCLUSION You have now joined Leonardo da Vinci in one of his talents - that of studying plants and flowers. What do we call that study? (BOTANY) He would admire your beautiful shapes, colors, shading, and highlighting that make your flowers realistic as well as pretty. CLEAN UP Place the finished botanical artwork in an out-of-the-way location to completely dry.

THIS CONCLUDES THE LEONARDO DA VINCI UNIT.

Documents

MONA LISA. If no - MtmHomeSchool4Art.commtmhomeschool4art.com/uploaded_lessons/Track F/unit_2/track-f_unit... · (MONA LISA. If no ... Mona in Italian means “madame,” and her