First Grade
Royal Portraits
Diego Velazquez (pronounced veh-LAS-kez), 1599-1660, was the royal painter to King Philip IV of Spain, and he painted many portraits of the king and queen and their daughter, Princess Margaret Teresa.
This painting called "Las Meninas" is his most famous work of art. It is also a lot of fun to look at and try to figure out what is going on.
It shows Velazquez himself (a self-portrait!) off to the side with his painting palette and a very large canvas in front of him. In the middle of the picture is the Princess with her attendants (the maids of honor from the title) including a dwarf and a dog for amusement. In the background is a mirror hanging on the wall, which shows a reflection of the King and Queen who must also be in the room (standing in the same place where we, the viewers, are when looking at the picture). The man in the doorway is the Queen's assistant.
So, who do you think Velazquez is painting? The princess? The king and queen? Someone or something else? It could be any of those things, but Velazquez gives us one BIG clue! The size of the canvas that he is painting in the picture is very large, and there is only one of Velazquez's pictures that is the same size in real life: this one, "Las Meninas." So is Velazquez painting a picture of HIMSELF painting a picture? What do you think?
This painting called "Las Meninas" is his most famous work of art. It is also a lot of fun to look at and try to figure out what is going on.
It shows Velazquez himself (a self-portrait!) off to the side with his painting palette and a very large canvas in front of him. In the middle of the picture is the Princess with her attendants (the maids of honor from the title) including a dwarf and a dog for amusement. In the background is a mirror hanging on the wall, which shows a reflection of the King and Queen who must also be in the room (standing in the same place where we, the viewers, are when looking at the picture). The man in the doorway is the Queen's assistant.
So, who do you think Velazquez is painting? The princess? The king and queen? Someone or something else? It could be any of those things, but Velazquez gives us one BIG clue! The size of the canvas that he is painting in the picture is very large, and there is only one of Velazquez's pictures that is the same size in real life: this one, "Las Meninas." So is Velazquez painting a picture of HIMSELF painting a picture? What do you think?
Below are a couple more portraits that Velazquez painted of Princess Margarita. The first is a detail of "Las Meninas," the next is when she is about 5, and the bottom right is when she is 8 years old. Even though the art project today will be our own self-portraits wearing crowns, notice that none of the royalty in Velazquez's portraits wear crowns. That is true of most old paintings of royalty. I think it is because crowns are too heavy to wear for the many, many hours a person has to sit still while having his portrait painted. Today, a camera can take a picture quickly, so kings and queens of today are shown wearing crowns, just like you will be in your art project!
Print out and make a template from cardstock or thin cardboard (like and old cereal box):
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Note: the bottom of the crown is approximately 5 inches (13 cm) across
The Project - Self-Portraits with Crown
Prep – 45 min.
Materials
-9 x 12 white construction paper for each student with a crown traced at the top (alternatively, the crown can be cut out of colored paper and glued to the top)
-Crown stencil (in first grade file cabinet drawer)
-black Sharpies (check out in office)
-Oil pastels
-Glue bottles
-Glitter
-Liquid watercolor in blue and purple + paint brushes and palettes
Lesson
-pass out paper. Have students use it vertically and have them put their name on the back. First, draw a big U to connect your crown and make your face. Draw a neck down and add a shirt or dress.
-Have students draw their eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth, and ears. When they are done drawing their faces in pencil have them raise their hands for you to check that they have drawn everything and pass out black Sharpies to trace over pencil lines.
-Students can now color in their drawing with oil pastels. Pass out oil pastels and collect black Sharpies.
-When students are done coloring in their project, have them raise their hand to go back to a table and get glue and glitter on their crown or have a volunteer come around with glitter to put on their crown. Whatever works best for you!
-ask each student what color watercolor they would like their background. If you are going to watercolor their background later in the Art PREP, room you can write the color on the back. If you have enough volunteers, you can have a volunteer watercolor the background in the class when they are done…being careful to not get it on the glue/glitter.
Materials
-9 x 12 white construction paper for each student with a crown traced at the top (alternatively, the crown can be cut out of colored paper and glued to the top)
-Crown stencil (in first grade file cabinet drawer)
-black Sharpies (check out in office)
-Oil pastels
-Glue bottles
-Glitter
-Liquid watercolor in blue and purple + paint brushes and palettes
Lesson
- Talk to students about the print. What do you see? What is a self-portrait? Today we are going to draw our own self-portraits, but we will all be queens and kings! Draw the crown on the white board and connect the 2 sides of the crown with a big U for the face. Draw lines down for the neck.
- Tell students about facial features: Did you know that your eyes are almond shaped, draw shape on board. You have a 2 parts inside the almond shape, your iris (the colored part of your eye) and the pupil (the black circle in the center of your eye). Draw an eye on white board with all 3 parts to show students.
- Your eyes actually have room for a whole extra eye in between the 2 eyes you have! Draw 3 eyes on board next to each other and then erase the one in the center. This shows the students how far apart your eyes should be. Draw a squiggly line eyebrow above each eye.
- Let them draw their own nose, draw yours however you like…I don’t like to teach drawing a contoured nose till they are older.
- Show students that a mouth is not cartoon lips. Draw a simple open mouth. They can then add teeth, but draw each tooth separately. If they draw a closed mouth draw one that does not have huge lips.
- If students ears will be showing, have them draw ears on the side of their head. Just a letter C with a little lobe on the left side and a backwards C with a lobe on the right side. Then put some little extra c’s inside for ear creases.
- After this is all drawn the students can begin their drawing with pencil.
- Go over what parts of the face they need to draw by asking them who can remember what we need to draw today. Don’t forget to start with eyes and work down to bottom of face, then ears.
-pass out paper. Have students use it vertically and have them put their name on the back. First, draw a big U to connect your crown and make your face. Draw a neck down and add a shirt or dress.
-Have students draw their eyes, eyebrows, nose, mouth, and ears. When they are done drawing their faces in pencil have them raise their hands for you to check that they have drawn everything and pass out black Sharpies to trace over pencil lines.
-Students can now color in their drawing with oil pastels. Pass out oil pastels and collect black Sharpies.
-When students are done coloring in their project, have them raise their hand to go back to a table and get glue and glitter on their crown or have a volunteer come around with glitter to put on their crown. Whatever works best for you!
-ask each student what color watercolor they would like their background. If you are going to watercolor their background later in the Art PREP, room you can write the color on the back. If you have enough volunteers, you can have a volunteer watercolor the background in the class when they are done…being careful to not get it on the glue/glitter.
Citations:
- Diego Velazquez, Las Meninas. www.wikiart.org, https://www.wikiart.org/en/diego-velazquez/las-meninas-detail-of-the-lower-half-depicting-the-family-of-philip-iv-of-spain-1656
- Diego Velazquez, Portrait of the Infanta Margarita 1660. www.wikiart.org, https://www.wikiart.org/en/diego-velazquez/portrait-of-the-infanta-margarita
- Diego Velazquez, Portrait of the Infanta Margarita Aged Five 1656. www.wikiart.org, https://www.wikiart.org/en/diego-velazquez/portrait-of-the-infanta-margarita-aged-five-1656