Bancroft Elementary School
Art Appreciation Program
Presents
“Madonna of the Yarn winder”
by
Leonardo
da Vinci
1452-1519
Lesson Summary:
 This lesson discusses the art of the Renaissance and introduces
Leonardo da Vinci.

The art project explores ‘Aerial Perspective’, an innovation in
painting which daVinci introduced.
© 2009 Bancroft Art Appreciation Committee
VOLUNTEER CHECKLIST
Lesson Information
Artist:
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
Art Title:
“Madonna of the Yarn winder”
Period or Style:
Italian Renaissance
Art Element:
Aerial Perspective
Project/Medium:
Paint a landscape showing aerial perspective
Prep-work Required
Discussion:
Familiarize yourself with current lesson details.
Prep Work
Email Linell to reserve the media cart one day before.
Check to make sure all your supplies are available.
Presentation Materials
Images
Map; Drawing of flying machine;
Lady with an Ermine; Mona Lisa;
Flight into Egypt-Giotto;
On drive in Cabinet
Madonna of the Yarn winder.
Lesson Plan:
Da Vinci
In folder
Print outs:
Landscape postcards/1 for each
student.
In folder
Books:
Getting to Know the World’s
Greatest Artists: Da Vinci
In folder
Neo Leo
Activity Materials
Watercolor Paper
1 piece per student
Palettes with blue, green, yellow, brown, black and white ,
gray paint, brushes, water cups, golden acrylic interference
blue if available-otherwise a light blue acrylic paint showing
aerial perspective.
One palette per 2
students-water
cups enough to
share
© 2009 Bancroft Art Appreciation Committee
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DA VINCI LESSON PLAN
Lesson Objectives
 To introduce students to the life of Italian Renaissance artist, inventor and
scientist, Leonardo da Vinci, one of the most famous artists of all time.
 To explore his technical innovations in painting such as chiascuro, sfumato and
aerial perspective.
Presentation Timing
 This project needs 60 minutes to finish. Spend approx. 15 minutes on the
lesson portion and the rest on the art activity. Consider reading one of the
books on da Vinci to the class after presenting facts and slides from the lesson
plan.
The Renaissance
 The Renaissance refers to Italian art and architecture of the 15th and 16th
centuries and centered around the Tuscan city of Florence.
 ‘Renaissance” is a French word which means rebirth. It was an intellectual
movement, which celebrated anything from the classics or the time of ancient
Greece and Rome. They used ancient art and architecture as models for
creating new works.
 The followers of this movement were called Humanists and they focused on
celebrating humanity and perfecting the human form. They affirmed the
Humanist principle “wonders are there many, but none so wonderful as man.”

Each artist pursued his own interests, studied anatomy, perspective, and the
sciences of color and vision, of engineering, and of weights and counterweights
in space.
 The art of the Renaissance constituted the climax of the Europe’s greatness in
art and the artist achieved the status of genius.
 Three men were considered geniuses of the Renaissance: Leonardo da Vinci
(1452-1519), Raphael Sanzio (1483-1520 and Michelangelo (1475-1564).
© 2009 Bancroft Art Appreciation Committee
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Leonardo da Vinci
 Today we are going to learn about one of the geniuses of the Renaissance
Leonardo da Vinci.
 He was born in a little town, Vinci, near Florence, Italy in 1452 (show map) and
died at the age of 67 in 1519.
 He showed great talent as an artist at an early age and became famous not only
as a painter, but as a great scientist.
 He had a great curiosity of many things and filled notebooks with drawings and
his observations of the world around him.
 He helped to found the science of geology (the study of the earth’s surface)
and botany (the study of plants).
 He was a great engineer and mathematician and contributed much to the study
of the human body.
 He studied the flight of birds and tried to design an airplane driven by a
propeller. (Show slide of flying machine drawing) We can see here he wrote his
notes backwards. He did this either to keep his theories secret or because
since he was left-handed he found it more convenient to do so.
 He studied and designed weapons and fortification for war and was sought out
by many Princes to aid them in defense systems.
 His huge range of preoccupations meant that his time was thinly spread and he
had a reputation of not finishing things.
 People still wanted to hire him to paint for them, maybe just to have him around
since he was so interesting. If he did finish a project though it was sure to be
work of the highest quality and originality.
 (Show ‘Lady with an Ermine’) We see here one of his finished portraits which is
full of charm and dignity. The way the woman’s hand and detail of the mink she
is holding shows his study of nature and physiology. Her gaze is mysterious and
unforgettable.
 (Show Mona Lisa). This is probably his most famous painting, which hangs in the
Louvre in Paris. Her gaze is mysterious and calm and the landscape is full of
fading color and mistiness.
© 2009 Bancroft Art Appreciation Committee
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Chiascuro, Sfumato, and Aerial Perspective

Medieval painting before the innovations of the Renaissance were flat, onedimensional with little realism or perspective.

Da Vinci introduced important technical innovations that perfected painting.

Chiascuro used light and dark and the values in between to create realism in
the objects in a painting.

Sfumato was a blending and subtle shading of oil paints to create less harsh
outlines and a more natural look.

Aerial Perspective or the’ perspective of disappearance’ gave more
atmospheric trueness to landscapes by making objects in the distance bluer and
hazier. Da Vinci, motivated by his curiosity of all things, wondered why distant
objects appear blue and hazy. He recognized that the atmosphere is full of
moisture and dust and the further away an object is the more moisture and
dust between your eyes and the object which reflects sunlight and appears
blue. The greater quantity of atmosphere between your eyes and the
mountains, for instance, make the mountains appear blue and almost the same
color as the atmosphere itself.

(Show Giotto) If we look at Giotto’s ‘The Flight into Egypt’ at the beginning
of the Renaissance we see he made their faces alive and thoughtful but there is
no air around them and no depth in the hills behind them.

(Show Madonna) Compare this to da Vinci’s ‘Madonna of the Yarn winder’ and
we see his use of the three techniques including Aerial Perspective creating the
mountains in the distance, blue and hazy.
© 2009 Bancroft Art Appreciation Committee
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Art Activity
 Hand out a sheet of Watercolor paper per student and have them put their
name and teacher’s name on the back.
 Show examples of painted landscape.
 Offer a landscape postcard for each student to copy from.
 Have them draw a basic sketch of their landscape before they start painting.
 Have paint palettes with landscape colors of paint and brushes of different
sizes available to them.
 Encourage them to mix colors together to create different shades as desired.
Offer paper plates for mixing if needed.
 Painting with different shades of the same color will make the picture show
light and shadow and make it come to life!
 Have water cups on tables.
 Encourage them to paint the mountains in the distant blue and hazy, showing
aerial perspective. Have some light blue acrylic paint for each student to use
for the distant mountains if available.
 Collect when finished and dry on rack.
 Return the following day and collect from the art room and keep safe until the
end of the year.
© 2009 Bancroft Art Appreciation Committee
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