Teachers’ Guide
Nelson Provincial Museum – Pupuri Taonga o Te Tai Ao
Teachers’ Guide
17 Nov 2007 – 28 Feb 2008
This exhibition was first started in 1995 when Teknoart - a group of Florentine
artisans began to produce a series of models, in conjunction with leading
academics, using material contemporary to the time of Leonardo.
The plans for the models were sourced from the concept sketches in the
manuscripts of Leonardo - the Codices - and the result is that over sixty working
models are represented.
The models are themed into the following categories: Military, Flight, Nautical
and Hydraulic machines and the Principles of Mechanics. All models are toscale or life size and the presentation of interactive machines provides your
students with an opportunity to touch and handle these models to gain a first
hand appreciation of the craftsmanship and the genius of their workings.
To date the exhibition has travelled throughout the United States, Australia, and
Europe. It has come to us from Te Manawa in Palmerston North who have kindly
assisted us in the preparation of this Teachers’ Resource.
Visit Information

Our museum TA445 is on the corner of Trafalgar and Hardy Streets on the
site of the old Hotel Nelson.
Nelson Provincial Museum – Pupuri Taonga o Te Tai Ao

There is a charge of $40 that covers students, teachers, and 4
parents. Extra parents will have to pay full price.

Please bring parents who are prepared to help run group activities.

Please could you label your students, parents and yourself in
BIG BLACK letters so we can address you by name.
Booking procedure:
Please contact us in any of these ways
Email: education@museumnp.org.nz
Fax: 03 5489589
Phone: 035489588
You will be sent a confirmation form to be returned to the museum before your
visit. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT
Nelson Provincial Museum – Pupuri Taonga o Te Tai Ao
Curriculum Connections
The major focus of these programmes is Technology – within a unit of work
that focuses on inventions
Programme for yr1 – Yr 3
This is an hour and a half programme. The time can be shortened to one hour for
younger children if required when booking.
Children will have a brief introduction before participating in an educator-led
activity which explores the significance of the Da Vinci designs. Children then
have 20-30 minutes to explore the exhibition with set questions in mind before regrouping to complete the activity and further discuss ideas seen in the exhibition.
The time is divided between hands on learning, applying any new knowledge,
and researching and exploring the exhibition.
Technological Capability
Within the context of ‘The Da Vinci Machines’ students will be exposed to a
‘need’. They will then discuss technological solutions using the exhibition both as
a resource and motivation. Students will generate possible options and
strategies, and select, develop, and adapt appropriate solutions.
Nelson Provincial Museum – Pupuri Taonga o Te Tai Ao
Technology and Society
Within the context of ‘The Da Vinci Machines’ students will develop an
awareness and understanding of the impacts of technology on society in the past
and the present.
Social Studies:
Time, Continuity and Change
Students will understand relationships between people and events through time.
Specifically how Da Vinci invented items that we use in today’s world, like the
parachute, long before the technology was available for such items to be made
and utilised.
Learning Intentions:
We are learning to:



Draw a Da Vinci machine which shows how it could be used
Identify machines for a certain use as designed by Da Vinci
Design our own machine for a particular purpose
We know we have achieved this when:

Our partner can understand how our machine works by
looking at the design

We can name 3 of Da Vinci’s machines and describe how
they work

We have designed a machine which could be used for the
particular purpose
Resources:
Website:
Brief introduction and overview of Da Vinci - easy to follow and has a
few activities for children.
http://www.mos.org/sln/Leonardo/
Books:

Leonardo and the Flying Boy by Laurence Anholt. Frances
Lincoln Limited, 2000. A children’s picture book which introduces
Leonardo as the inventor, artist and scientist. Contains
Leonardo’s drawings and designs.
Nelson Provincial Museum – Pupuri Taonga o Te Tai Ao
Programme for Years 4 – 6
This is an hour and a half programme.
The teaching programme in Da Vinci’s machines is intended to inspire students
to be innovative in design. It will also give students an insight into the ways in
which Da Vinci’s machines have
impacted on society 500 years after they were designed.
Class sessions involve directed exploration, discussion and experimentation with
the design process. Students will explore Da Vinci’s machines to find examples
of his futuristic innovation, comparing what he designed with technology we still
use today.
Curriculum Links
Technology:
Technological Capability
Within the context of ‘The Da Vinci Machines’ students will be exposed to a
‘need’. They will then produce and discuss technological solutions using the
exhibition both as a resource and motivation. Students will generate possible
options and strategies, and select, develop, and adapt appropriate solutions.
Technology and Society
Within the context of ‘The Da Vinci Machines’ students will develop an
awareness and understanding of the impacts of technology on society in the past
and the present.
Social Studies:
Time, Continuity and Change
Students will understand relationships between people and events through time.
Specifically, how Da Vinci invented items that we use in today’s world, like the
parachute, long before the technology was available for such items to be made
and utilised.
Nelson Provincial Museum – Pupuri Taonga o Te Tai Ao
Learning Intentions:
We are learning to:

Draw a machine which shows how it is used

Identify machines for a certain use as designed by Da Vinci

Identify ways in which Da Vinci has impacted on people’s lives
today
We know we have achieved this when:

Our partner can understand how our machine works by
looking at the design

We can name three of Da Vinci’s machines and describe how
they work

We can give three examples of things we use today that Da
Vinci thought of
Pre and post visit activities:





Research Leonardo Da Vinci’s life, art, scientific discoveries and designs
Study the technology and materials available to people in the 1400s
Research a useful tool, piece of technology or a technological concept from
the time of its invention until now (e.g. the parachute)
Design a piece of technology that could be useful 100 years from now. How
might it impact the world?
Imagine that you are Leonardo trying to convince the Duke of Milan that
your machines are worth building. Pick one or two of Leonardo’s models
and write a letter to convince the Duke of their value. Include illustrations if
they will help explain your ideas.
Resources:
Books:

Primary Physics the principles behind Leonardo’s Science by
Marti Pels and Andrew Davies. Sunshine Education, 2007

Leonardo - the Machines by Carlo Pedretti. Giunti Editore, 1999

Leonardo Da Vinci for Kids by Janis Herbert, Chicago Review
Press, 1998
National Library of New Zealand:
www.natlib.govt.nz
Nelson Provincial Museum – Pupuri Taonga o Te Tai Ao
Programme for Years 7 – 10
This is an hour and a half programme.
After a brief introduction to the exhibition, an educator will ‘model’ the student
activity. Students will then explore the exhibition in small groups, with each
group explaining a machine of their choice to the rest of the class. Students will
also use Da Vinci’s machines to identify different mechanisms e.g. lever,
inclined plane, wheel and axle.
Curriculum Links
Technology:
Technological Capability
Within the context of ‘The Da Vinci Machines’ students will be exposed to a
‘need’. They will then produce and discuss technological solutions using the
exhibition both as a resource and motivation. Students will generate possible
options and strategies, and select, develop, and adapt appropriate solutions.
Technology and Society
Within the context of ‘The Da Vinci Machines’ students will develop an
awareness and understanding of the impacts of technology on society in the past
and the present.
Social Studies:
Time, Continuity and Change
Students will understand relationships between people and events through time.
Specifically how Da Vinci invented items that we use in today’s world, like the
parachute, long before the technology was available for such items to be made
and utilised.
Science:
Making Sense of the Physical World
Students will investigate and describe how everyday technology
work and affect our lives. Students will relate Da Vinci’s machines to those of the
present day.
Nelson Provincial Museum – Pupuri Taonga o Te Tai Ao
Students will investigate how physical devices or systems can be used to perform
specified functions in relation to Da Vinci’s machines.
Learning Intentions:
We are learning to:

Make observations

Identify the different parts of a machine

Identify machines for a certain use as designed by Da Vinci
We know we have achieved this when
We can explain to the rest of the group how and why a Da Vinci
machine works
Resources:
Websites:
Designed for students and teachers, includes a timeline and
experiment
www.brainpop.com/artsandmusic/artistsandmusicians/leonardodavinci
Information on Leonardo’s drawings including various machines and
sketches of the body
www.bbc.co.uk/science/leonardo/
This website from a museum in Milan includes a chronology of
Leonardo’s life, his manuscripts and his machines.
www.museoscienza.org/English/Leonardo/
Leonardo’s top 10 Best Inventions!
www.livescience.com/history/davinci_bestideas_top10.html
More information on Da Vinci’s life and career
www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/vinci.html
National Library of New Zealand:
www.natlib.govt.nz
Nelson Provincial Museum – Pupuri Taonga o Te Tai Ao
Did you know?

Leonardo was left-handed.

He wrote in ‘mirror writing’, starting from the right hand side of the page and
working to the left. Some believe it was to provide secrecy to his work;
however, it is also likely Da Vinci wrote in this way because it was easier to
pull the split nib or quill pens he would have been writing with than to push
them across the page.
•
By 1482 Leonardo was state engineer in Milan, Italy and had
invented an irrigation system to bring water to the Lombardy plains.

Leonardo was a great all-rounder – a brilliant painter, sculptor, architect,
musician, engineer, and scientist - as well as one of history’s greatest
inventors.
•
Leonardo was born in Vinci, in Italy. His name is really a nickname
meaning Leonardo of Vinci.

Leonardo’s study of anatomy involved the dissection of human corpses,
until he stopped after allegations of witchcraft.
•
Leonardo only finished 15 significant artworks. He often started an artwork
and left it unfinished possibly because he was
so involved in his many
other interests
•
The Mona Lisa is arguably the world’s most famous painting

Leonardo described himself as a military engineer, architect, sculptor and
painter

Leonardo was also known as a talented musician and story teller.
Nelson Provincial Museum – Pupuri Taonga o Te Tai Ao
Student notes
Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519)
Leonardo was an artist, scientist and inventor. His early life was spent in the
region of Vinci, in the valley of the Arno River in near Florence, firstly with his
mother and in later childhood in the household of his father, grandfather and
Uncle Francesco.
Can you find Florence in your Atlas?
Francesco was only sixteen years older than Leonardo and he encouraged his
curiosity and interest in scientific observation. His grandfather's keeping of
journals set an example which he was to follow for most of his life, diligently
recording in his own journals both the events of the day, his visual observations,
his plans and his projects. The journals of Leonardo contain matters as ordinary
as grocery lists and as remarkable as diagrams for the construction of a flying
machine. Most of his notes are in mirror writing. There are lots of ideas about
why he did that. He was left handed so perhaps it was easier for him or maybe
he didn’t want anyone to steal his ideas. His journals are known as Codices.
Leonardo lived in an exciting time known as the Renaissance which began in his
native Italy. Renaissance is a French word meaning ‘re-awakening’. People
started to look at new ways of thinking and expressing themselves as people
moved from villages and bigger centres developed as Europe emerged from a
long period of warfare. During this time the printing press was invented,
Copernicus announced that the earth revolved around the sun and Columbus
sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to America. Scientists made breakthroughs in
the study of Human Anatomy, medicine and mathematics.
In 1466, when he was 17, Leonardo was sent to Florence to the workshop of the
artist Verrocchio, in order to learn the skills of an artist. As well as painting and
drawing, he learnt about human anatomy. He was also learnt technical skills
such as drafting, set construction, plasterworking, paint chemistry, and
metallurgy.
Leonardo was curious about nature. In his early childhood he discovered a deep
cave in the mountains and he wanted to know how it was made and what was
inside it. His earliest dated drawing, 1473, is of the valley of the Arno River,
where he lived. It shows some of the many scientific interests that interested him
all his life, in particular geology and hydrology.
Look up the words geology and hydrology in your dictionary.
Nelson Provincial Museum – Pupuri Taonga o Te Tai Ao
Scientific Method
Perhaps the most important contribution that Leonardo made to Science was the
way in which he carried out his investigations. After close to a thousand years of
superstition, he introduced a rational, systematic approach to the study of nature.
He would begin by asking himself a straightforward scientific question like ”How
does a bird fly?” He would then observe his subject in its natural environment,
make notes on its behaviour, and repeat the observation again and again to
make sure his observations were accurate. Then he would make sketches and
finally draw conclusions. In many cases he could use what he found out in nature
to design inventions for human use.
Leonardo was a perfectionist, he thought a great deal, made lots of notes and did
sketches for his paintings. He only completed 15 paintings in 50 years! He had
no formal education in Latin and mathematics and did not attend a university so
his scientific studies were ignored by other scholars He approached science by
looking carefully and recording what he saw.
Leonardo had ideas about a helicopter, a tank, concentrated solar power, a
calculator, and the double hull, and he outlined a theory of the earth’s plate
movement. A few of his designs were made during his lifetime such as an
automated bobbin winder and a machine for testing the tensile strength of wire.
In 1502, Leonardo produced a drawing of a single span 240 m bridge as part of a
civil engineering project for Ottoman Sultan Beyazid II of Istanbul. The bridge
was intended to span an inlet at the mouth of the Bosphorus known as the
Golden Horn. Beyazid did not complete the project, because he believed that
such a construction was impossible but on 17 May 2006, the Turkish government
decided to construct Leonardo's bridge to span the Golden Horn.
War machines
Nelson Provincial Museum – Pupuri Taonga o Te Tai Ao
In Leonardo's notebooks there is an array of war machines that includes a tank to
be propelled by two men powering crankshafts. Although the drawing itself looks
quite finished, the mechanics were apparently not fully developed because, if
built as drawn, the tank, with a lot of effort, might be made to rotate on the spot,
but would never progress in a forward direction. In a BBC documentary, a military
team built the machine and found it not working, until they changed only one of
the gears. Some people think that Da Vinci deliberately left this mistake in the
design, in order to prevent it from being made by enemies.
Flight
Leonardo’s later journals contain a detailed study of the flight of birds and several
different designs for wings based in structure upon those of bats .
One design that he produced shows a helicopter to be lifted by a rotor powered
by four men. It would not have worked since the body of the craft itself would
have rotated in the opposite direction to the rotor.
He also designed a parachute and a light hang glider that could have flown.
Leonardo’s mirror writing
People who were contemporaries of Leonardo left records that they saw him
write and paint left handed. He also made sketches showing his own left hand at
work. Being a lefty was highly unusual in Leonardo's time. Because people were
superstitious, children who naturally started using their left hands to write and
Nelson Provincial Museum – Pupuri Taonga o Te Tai Ao
draw were forced to use their right hands.
No one knows the true reason Leonardo used mirror writing, though several
possibilities have been suggested:
•
Writing left handed from left to right was messy because the ink just put
down would smear as his hand moved across it. Leonardo chose to write
in reverse because it prevented smudging.

He was trying to make it harder for people to read his notes and steal his
ideas.

He was hiding his scientific ideas from the powerful Roman Catholic
Church, whose teachings sometimes disagreed with what Leonardo
observed.
Activity
Hold a pencil in each hand.
Write your name with the usual writing hand while writing in the opposite direction
with the opposite hand.
Having the one hand mirror the other hand's action seems to help the brain
coordinate the movements.
The students should experiment with writing backwards alphabets and
backwards sentences.
Let them write backwards with pens and markers to make comparisons. Is one
kind of writing tool easier to use this way than another?
Suggest that they try writing backwards messages to a partner who can then
decipher them with a mirror.
Discussion:
After everyone has begun to feel more comfortable writing backwards, gather the
students and encourage them to discuss their thoughts and observations about
the experience of writing backwards. When it's appropriate, introduce the
following questions for discussion:
Did left-handed or right-handed students have an easier time writing backwards?
Nelson Provincial Museum – Pupuri Taonga o Te Tai Ao
Which medium, pencil, pen, or marker seemed best for writing backwards?
(Leonardo would have written mostly with pen and ink.)
For someone who learns to write backwards as easily as they write forwards,
what advantages might there be to backwards writing?
Leonardo the Storyteller
Leonardo also wrote stories. They usually were fables with a moral to them.
The Mouse, the Weasel & the Cat
One morning a little mouse could not leave his house. It was besieged.
A hungry weasel was waiting outside. Through a tiny breathing hole the mouse
saw him intently watching the entrance, ready to spring,
The poor little mouse, knowing himself to be in terrible danger, trembled all over
with fear.
But a cat suddenly leaped onto the weasel's back, seized him between his teeth
and devoured him.
"Great Jupiter, I thank you" sighed the mouse, who had observed the scene
through his spy hole, "and I shall willingly sacrifice some of my food to you."
And so he gave the cat some of his food. But in escaping one danger, he
foolishly forgot the other. The cat, being a cat, ate him too.
Senior student notes - Social Context
Leonardo’s Italy
Origins
Leonardo Da Vinci was born in 1452 in the small town of Vinci, Italy. An
illegitimate child, his mother was a peasant and his father a lawyer. His early
Nelson Provincial Museum – Pupuri Taonga o Te Tai Ao
years were spent with his mother, after which he went to live with his father in the
city of Florence.
Italy in Medieval Times
The Italy Da Vinci was born into was very different from the Italy of today. Divided
into five warring city-states, Italy was fragmented and vulnerable to exploitation
by neighbouring nations. France and Spain began to move in on Italy, until the
only two city-states that remained independent were Venice and the Papal
States. It wasn’t until the 1800s that Italy’s captured states were re-united to form
one nation once again. Until then, individual people would have generally felt
allegiance to their city-state, rather than to Italy as a country. A peace agreement
in the North of Italy meant that Da Vinci’s childhood years were relatively free of
the threat of war. However, as an adult war often defined his movements and
even his occupation. At one stage, he was employed to design methods of
defending the city of Florence. His first-hand knowledge of war inspired many of
the futuristic war machine designs for which Da Vinci is now famous.
Italy and the Renaissance
Da Vinci was born during the Renaissance, the ‘rebirth’ of general world-view.
Although Italy remained strongly Catholic, a new train of thought began to
emerge in the late 1300s referred to as Humanism. Influenced by the work of
leading Italian artists, scholars and writers, people began to see the human race
in a different light. Rather than looking at everything through a religious lens,
people were becoming more aware of the abilities of the human mind and of the
attributes of the physical world around them. These new ideas, however, mainly
affected people living in the cities. Three quarters of Italians were peasants living
in rural areas and for these people, the Renaissance swept past leaving their
lives largely unchanged. For Da Vinci, having transferred from a small country
town to the big city of Florence at age 16, the contrast in thought and lifestyle
must have been extreme.
Society in the 15th century was marked by a clear hierarchy, with obvious
differences between the various ‘levels’ of society. Generally speaking, there was
not much movement up the social scale. If you were born into a tradesman’s
family, you would probably go into that trade yourself. Da Vinci was employed by
rulers of the different provinces of Italy. Apart from painting, Da Vinci drew
detailed pictures and designs of everything from the intricate workings of a
human heart, designs for sets and costumes for plays to great war machines.
Useful web sites
http://www.mos.org/sln/Leonardo/WhatWhereWhen.html
Nelson Provincial Museum – Pupuri Taonga o Te Tai Ao
For information on Da Vinci’s life
http://www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/essays/comp/cw18italygermany.htm
For information on Italy during 1400-1700
Time Line of Da Vinci’s Life
1452 – Leonardo Da Vinci born in Vinci, Tuscany, Italy
1468 – Leonardo’s grandfather dies and the family moves to Florence
1469 – Aged 16, Leonardo begins an art apprenticeship with Verrocchio in
Florence. Leonardo studies sculpture, painting, architecture, figure drawing, and
theories of optics, perspective, geometry and natural sciences.
Nelson Provincial Museum – Pupuri Taonga o Te Tai Ao
1472 – Leonardo registers with the painter’s association in Florence, meaning he
is then able to take on clients of his own.
1473 – Leonardo’s earliest known drawing is completed, a view of the Arno river
valley.
1475-1480 – Leonardo paints the Annunciation for the Church of San Bartolomeo
at Monteoliveto.
1478 – 1482 – Leonardo comes under the employment (and protection) of the
ruler of Florence, Lorenzo de Medici. Leonardo studies the Medici collection of
ancient sculptures. He begins painting an Adoration of the Magi for a church
altar, but never completes it.
1482 – Leonardo moves from Florence to Milan, to begin work for Ludovico
Sforza, the Duke of Milan. As well as working for the Duke, Leonardo opens his
own studio in Milan.
1483 – Leonardo begins to paint the Virgin of the Rocks
Late 1480s – Leonardo produces a large number of designs for military devices
and machines. His work in Milan also involves designing costumes and sets for
plays and planning canals for the city.
1487-1493 – Leonardo begins a series of anatomical studies. In 1489 he begins
a book titled ‘On the Human Figure’, looking at the proportions of the human
body and anatomy.
1495 – Leonardo begins work on the Last Supper. It was completed in 1498
1499 – France takes over Milan and Leonardo embarks on the journey back to
Florence.
1500 – Leonardo arrives in Florence and begins to focus on mathematics and
geometry.
1502 – Leonardo begins working for General Cesare Borgia as an architect and
general engineer. For almost a year he travels around Italy with Borgia on his
military campaigns, doing topographical drawings and planning military
strategies.
1503 – Leonardo returns to Florence to work on a plan for deviating the course of
the Arno River in order to flood Pisa during the siege of the town. He also begins
the cartoon for the Battle of Anghiari. (This was not completed).
Nelson Provincial Museum – Pupuri Taonga o Te Tai Ao
1506 – Leonardo moves to Milan to work for Charles II of Amboise, governor of
Milan. His work mainly focuses on architectural and irrigation projects.
1510 – Leonardo studies anatomy at the University of Pavia, undertaking the
drawings and notes of the Anatomical Manuscript A. His anatomical studies
cover the workings of the muscles and nerves, the cranium (skull), skeleton, the
eye, brain, heart and the veins.
1513 – Leonardo moves to Rome to work for Giuliano de’ Medici, cardinal of the
Papal court. While in Rome Leonardo spends time studying mathematics and
carrying out projects for draining swamps near Rome, as well as further
anatomical studies and painting.
1516 – Leonardo completes the Mona Lisa (thought to be started in 1503).
1517 – Leonardo moves to France to work for Francois I, King of France. He
works on the design of a new palace for Francois I, as well as irrigation projects
and topographical studies of the Loire Valley.
1519 – Leonardo dies at Cloux, France. He is buried in the cloister of the church
of Saint Florentin in Amboise. His burial certificate describes him as a “noble
Milanese, first painter and engineer and architect to the King, State Mechanical
Engineer”.
Senior Art notes
Renaissance Art
The Italian Renaissance was a time in which art moved forward in its thinking
and depictions of the world around us, as well as looking back to more classical
times as an influence in the direction it took.
Nelson Provincial Museum – Pupuri Taonga o Te Tai Ao
Previous to the Renaissance period art was created to depict spiritual and
religious images. How large or small the figures were that featured in these
paintings related to their status and importance, not to where they were
positioned within a landscape.
The use of perspective in paintings was a product of the Renaissance. Artists
moved towards painting the world and people around them in realistic
proportions, focusing on depth, perspective and the effect of light. They were
influenced by humanistic ways of thinking which focused on life like and human
qualities. A main source for these ideas came from looking back to the world of
the Greeks and Romans (referred to as Classicism).
Renaissance Art incorporated the Classicism ideas, real life depictions of man,
and use of perspective, while also keeping elements of the religious influences.
This balance of the divine and man in art of the time can be seen in frescoes
throughout Italy and Europe.
Frescoes
Frescoes were extremely popular during the Renaissance period and were used
to decorate the walls and ceilings of churches, public buildings, and private
dwellings. The most well known fresco from the Renaissance period is the
Sistine Chapel painted by Michelangelo. Here we see the importance of depicting
the divine in a realistic way using perspective.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistine_Chapel_ceiling
When creating a fresco, the wall would first be dampened and a layer of lime
plaster would be applied. Artists would paint onto this damp plaster which would
set the paint for long lasting durability. Because of this, artists would paint one
plaster patch a day. This was known as giornate—Italian for a day's work.
When Leonardo painted ‘The Last Supper’ he attempted to paint onto dry walls in
layers of paint rather than the true Fresco style. Because of this very early on the
paint began to flake.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Supper
Perspective
Linear Perspective
The idea of linear perspective is attributed to a famous Renaissance architect
called Filippo Brunelleschi. Linear perspective consists of art works having a
horizon and vanishing points which congregate at the horizon. Objects closer to
the vanishing point (and horizon) should appear smaller than those further away
from the vanishing point (and closer to the forefront of the picture). Think of a
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train track disappearing into the distance. It finally reaches a vanishing point,
diminishing in size, and disappears.
Leo Links: If you look at Da Vinci’s ‘The Last Supper’ and continue all the lines
in the painting, such as the parallel lines on the walls, the corners of the table
and the grid lines on the ceiling, they all ‘vanish’ at Jesus’ head.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Supper
Aerial Perspective
One of the many advances in the area of ‘perspective’ in art during the
Renaissance was Leonardo’s notion and ‘invention’ of ‘Aerial’ perspective.
Leonardo was the first to recognise that the further away objects are the more
they are affected by the atmosphere and therefore colour quality. This is the idea
that hills in the far distance appear bluey-green as apposed to what we know
they would be; green. An example of this understanding in paintings can be seen
in the famous ‘Mona Lisa’.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Lisa
The background landscape is painted in blue-greens. Earlier paintings would
have ignored this perspective approach and painted distant landscapes as if they
were much clearer in colour as a closer object would be.
‘Thus if one is to be five times as distant
Make it five times as blue.’
-Leonardo Da Vinci
The Sfumato Effect
Capturing light, shadow and depth was an important part of the realism of
painting of the time. Renaissance artists captured this look by using layers of
translucent paints and varnishes to increase the effects of light in their paintings,
as well as creating that soft edge look to their works. This was known as the
sfumato effect and Leonardo is said to have mastered this technique.
You can see its use in the Mona Lisa in the soft lines and light on her hands. And
it is the sfumato effect that is responsible for the mystery behind Mona Lisa’s
smile - where does the shadow end and the smile begin?
Cartoons
Along with painting the use of drawing took on a new role during the
Renaissance.
Drawing and paper began to be used more for designing and exploring ideas in
preparation for painting rather than just for recording or copying an existing
painting. Once ideas had been roughly outlined, and figures observed and
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drawn, a large full scale drawing of what the final painting would consist of was
made. These were known as ‘Cartoons’ and were used especially as a template
in the painting of frescoes.
Leonardo used his skill of sketching, not only for painting preparation but in all
areas of study and interest to him. His drawings served as a tool to illustrate and
record his scientific and technical ideas, as well as recording his many
observations of the world around him.
See website for an image and information of Leonardo’s famous Cartoon:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Virgin_and_Child_with_St_Anne_and_St_John_t
he_Baptist
Activities:

Create a perspective tool for painting
There were many tools and devices invented during this time to aid in the study
and accurate painting of perspective.
One of these is the ‘Perspectograph’, invented by Leonardo Da Vinci. It was a
simple device which consisted of a frame which held a viewing slot and a piece
of glass which the artist could trace the scene behind it on, before transferring it
to a canvas.
Further information and guidelines to create your own simple, easy to make and
use, perspectograph can be found at:
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/books/20060709leonardoperspectograph.pdf

Create a classroom fresco
Children can create individual ‘cartoon’ sketches and then transfer these to large
wall space. Then spend a little time each day painting it. For an extra challenge
use a large piece of cardboard suspended above head height so children can
experience what it may have been like to stand and paint directly above, as
Michelangelo would have done creating the Sistine Chapel.

Experiment with horizons and vanishing points
Nelson Provincial Museum – Pupuri Taonga o Te Tai Ao
Draw environments with clear vanishing points such as a school corridor or the
outside of a building. Place children, or objects of a similar size, at various
intervals down the length of the building/corridor, focusing on perspective and
objects diminishing in size the further away they are. Use your home made
perspectograph as an aid.

Create your own Mona Lisa
Have a contest to re-create the famous smile, or eyes which follow you around
the room.
Using a photocopied Mona Lisa children re-paint in the background focusing on
using bluer colours for furthest hill/objects in the landscape.