Lesson plans for teaching Baroque painting styles and regional variations

¶ … Lessons Plans for Teaching Baroque Artwork

Lesson Plan 1: Overview of Baroque Style Painting

Lesson Part

Teacher Activity Description

Student Activity Description

Instruction Inquiry: A description of the learning activity and its objectives will be provided.

Teacher introduces the Baroque style of painting and describes the historical period in which it was most influential (early 16th century through the early 18th century) (Engel, 2012). For instance, according to Engel, "Baroque was generated when Italian art, as based on corporeal, exterior activity, aligned itself to northern or Germanic art with its emphasis on interior, psychological movements" (p. 3). In sum, Baroque paintings are characterized by several features, including dynamism (e.g., there is a sense of motion discernible in the artwork) that is complemented by distinctive artistic effects such as (a) strong curves, (b) elaborate decoration and (c) diminished lighting effects (Baroque painting, 2015. There were some regional difference in style, though, with southern Western Europe favoring the full Baroque style that included all of the aforementioned artistic effects; while a modified approach known as restrained Baroque was favored in northern Western Europe; however, an isolated exception to this general demarcation was the full Baroque style that was embraced in Flanders (Baroque painting, 2015).

Students will describe the general historic period and regions in which Baroque emerged and matured as well as the different types of Baroque artwork that were embraced by different regions of Europe.

Informal Assessment

Students will be provided with an informal assessment concerning time period and the respective characteristic of full and restrained Baroque and the regions where they predominated.

Students will be assessed on their ability to accurately describe the distinguishing characteristics of Baroque paintings and the historic time period in which they emerged.

Practice Activity Support

According to Gatchev (1987), full Baroque artists used several distinguishing artistic elements including distinctive light and dark features, perspective, and realism. In this regard, Gatchev notes that full Baroque artists "refused to idealize their subjects: beauty spots, scars or deformities were meticulously painted, in an attempt to immortalize the flesh, which though doomed to decomposition concealed a soul bound for eternity" (p. 46). By contrast, "the restrained Baroque aesthetic culminated during the Late Baroque (ca. 1675-1725)" and was characterized by a "light, playful style" (Baroque painting, 2015). Finally, famous examples of artworks from prominent artists of each style will be presented and interpreted to describe their defining features and aesthetic qualities (Olsen, 2013).

Students will identify restrained and full Baroque paintings by name and artist.

Closure

Teacher provides a recapitulation of the major Baroque artists, examples of their work and reiterates the fundamental differences between restrained and full Baroque painting styles using the PowerPoint presentation. In addition, students are provided with the opportunity for questions and answers concerning these issues.

Students will describe the major Baroque painters and examples of their work, as well as those features that categorize them as full or restrained Baroque style paintings.

Table 3

Lesson Plan 3: Learning to Paint in Baroque Style

Lesson Part

Teacher Activity Description

Student Activity Description

Instruction Inquiry: Teacher will provide students with artistic media of their choice.

Teacher will reiterate the defining qualities of restrained and full Baroque paintings and provide salient examples of each type using a PowerPoint presentation.

Students will describe the defining characteristics of each type of Baroque painting presented and identify those aspects that are most characteristic of each style.

Informal Assessment

Teacher will present students with a still-life example (such as a bowl of fruit or a volunteer model) and request students to create their own versions of restrained and full Baroque art using the media provided. Students will be assessed on their ability to incorporate relevant elements of each type of Baroque painting style.

Students will create their own versions of full and restrained Baroque artwork using the example and media provided.

Practice Activity Support

Teacher will select superior examples of student artwork that accurately depict relevant elements of restrained and full Baroque artwork and display them to the class in a PowerPoint presentation. The responsible students will not be identified unless they request recognition.

Students will be given another opportunity to create their own versions of restrained and full Baroque art based on the superior student examples displayed in the PowerPoint presentation.

Closure

Teacher will summarize the first two lesson plans and critique the first and second efforts by students to create their own versions of restrained and full Baroque artworks.

Students will be provided with handouts containing examples of famous Baroque paintings that most accurately portray the defining qualities highlighted in the final lesson plan.