Art History: Portraits!

When we look at portrait paintings in art history, we can dicipher a hidden messsage that the sitter (the person in the portrait) and the painter want to tell us.  We looked at “The Rainbow Portrait” of Queen Elizabeth the I, and found clues that told us she was wise, to be trusted, and was watching over us. 

We also discussed how portraits are similar to today’s social media, and that people can post things to make themselves look good while asking for subscribers and followers. 

We used dry erase markers to circle and look for clues on the portrait of Queen Elizabeth the I and George Washington:

We then took a look at presidental portraits, and their longstanding history and significance.  Then, the presidential of Barak Obama came along and broke a lot of the rules of presidental portraits.  The artist Kehinde Wiley is an interesting artist when it comes to including symbolism from old portraits while including people of color who were historically excluded from portrait paintings. Here are a few of the paintings he has made and the historical painting that has inspired them side-by-side:

We then learned how to draw a portrait using correct proportions to create our own Kehinde Wiley inspired portrait.  The students are still working on painting and attaching their portraits to floral scrapbook paper.