Lesson Plan

„Numbers in the compositional structure”

“Carmen Sylva” High school Ploiești, România

Professors: Rita Bădulescu, Iulia Ignat

Unit: Numbers

Subunit: Numbers in the compositional structure

Age group: 17 – 18 years old

Time: 60 minutes

Resources – Materials: Copies of representative works of art of the Renaissance and Baroque period (Giotto, Leon Battista Alberti, Botticelli, Piero’s Della Francesca, Rubens)Acrylic paint, brushes, paper

Recycled language: Canvas, Renaissance, Baroque, work of art, composition, palette, equilibrium, rhythm

New language:Sfumato, value, hue, chiaroscuro, color harmony

Objectifs:

Pupils should be able to:

1. Understand the term „rhythm” and the meaning of „compositional structure”.

2. Understand and recognize the difference between the Renaissance and Baroque curents.

3. Understand the role of numbers in the creation of the artists in Renaissance.

4. Comprehend and learn new art terms.5. Practice by painting in order to

understand and learn new compositional structures.

Time Procedure15’ - Introduction –

Our lesson is about artistic composition and we chose to exemplify through a comparison between Renaissance and Baroque.

Let’s remember about Giotto. What does he bring new to the pictorial representation? He oversteps the classical technique of representing icons, such as flat, decorative shapes and volumes interpretation, with no perspective. His works begin to have compositional structure.

What does it mean compositional structure?C. s. represents the secret mathematics of a painting. It is based more on geometry and the artists of the Renaissance period used numbers in order to find

Whole class

harmonious solutions to compose.

Leon Battista Alberti studied architecture, mathematics, music and the art of painting. He creates a connection between musical rhythm and visual rhythm. He suggests some compositional structures based on musical consonance: 2/3, ¾, ½ or other derivatives 9/12/16 or 4/6/9.

Botticelli uses these numbers in order to bring harmony in his works. The golden ratio is frequently used as a measurement in the Renaissance.

In today’s lesson for a better understanding of the importance of compositional structure, we create a comparison between the Renaissance and Baroque styles.

In Piero’s Della Francesca work of art, we can observe a clear, symmetrical composition, structured in a solid pyramid shape. It’s all harmony and simplicity. The triptych “The descent of the cross” of Rubens form dynamic compositions, the character’s movements are drawn on diagonal axis, also there are character congestions, painted in chiaroscuro technique to underline the specific drama caught in the scenes.

30’ - Activity – Practice –

The sketches that we are making will simplify and interpret two kind of compositions, one from the Renaissance period, that captures a simple geometry based on the musical rhythms, with bright colors, pyramidal structure, harmonious shapes and one from Baroque period, that brings strong movement, agglomeration, dynamism and chiaroscuro contrast. We will keep the lines drawn on the copies of the works of art to understand and to be able to highlight the specifics of every artistic period.

Individual work

15’ - Evaluation –

We discuss about the exercise/practice and we underline the new learnt terms.

Whole class