A Match Made in Heaven

"Oh, ick...." was the general comment from my 7th and 8th grade students upon learning that the subject of this painting by Leonardo DaVinci, Ginevra De Benci, was, at age 16, betrothed to a middle aged man. They had a similar response to viewing Michelangelo's David in its... entirety. 

Some aspects of our study of the high Italian Renaissance had my young teens squirming in their seats. However, the assignment to create a "match made in heaven" - or more accurately, on earth, by pairing the 17 year old David with 16 year old Ginevra, resulted in some fun art!

The drawing lessons included instruction on standard proportion as measured in head lengths, The Vetruvian Man, of course, as well as some gradual tone shading exercises. We also watched a few video clips from the fabulous BBC production, "Michelangelo the Divine." The students loved it - full of violence, blood and naked Renaissance cupids!

For the images pictured here I gave the students a photocopy of Ginevra and David's heads. They glued them on grey, buff or pink construction paper and proceeded to give them hair extensions, make up, glasses and so on. Then they decided on a contemporary activity and setting. The rest is history - love at first sight!

Posing to Learn and Laugh

I was amazed to see that all 28 eighth graders, even rough and tumble Alex, a star lacrosse player, were holding the ballerina pose. Edgar Degas' lovely sculpture, "Little Ballerina," was projected on the wall. I'd challenged students to see if they could hold the pose, third position in ballet, I think, for three minutes. Most of the boys did not immediately leap at the chance, but after some gentle goading they rose to the challenge.

The day before, I'd had the class pose as Rodin's " The Thinker" prior to making a copy sketch to help them study the lines in this sculpture. When I showed them the original in an exhibition photo they were shocked at its tiny size. They found the contrast between the power of the figure and its small stature really interesting. Steven, one of the smaller students in class gave us all a good belly laugh when he said, "He's fun-sized, like me."

The simple act of inviting students to 'strike a pose' engaged everyone but gave the kinesthetic learners in class a chance to receive the art history content with their whole body rather than just their eyes and ears. As athletes know, this also taps into a different kind of memory, muscle memory.
Will having posed as great sculptures help them remember or more deeply understand "The Discobolus," Michelangelo's "David," or as pictured here, "The Winged Nike of Samothrace?" Who knows, but this sculpture unit sure led to lots of laughs!