- Remind pupils of the portrait of Elizabeth I and of how it portrayed her not as she was, but as she wanted people to believe she was.
- Tell pupils that portraits often carry that sort of message when they are commissioned by the sitter, but that some carry messages that are not so obvious.
- Show pupils a sixteenth-century family portrait,
eg Lord Cobham and his family, Sir Richard Saltonstall and his family, and initiate a whole-class discussion on the 'messages' it conveys. Are there likely to be differences between what a sixteenth-century person understood by the 'message' and what a person nowadays would understand? If appropriate, more than one portrait could be discussed in this way.
- Give pupils, in pairs or small groups, an eighteenth-century family portrait,
eg Mr and Mrs Andrews, Robert Gwillym of Atherton. Ask pupils to identify similarities/differences between the portraits,
eg clothes, background, and then brainstorm the 'messages' in them. If appropriate, different groups could be given different portraits - pupils annotate 'their' portraits.
- Talk about differences and similarities in the 'messages' from portraits at the beginning of the period compared with portraits at the end.
- Tell pupils that there are portraits that carry coded messages that only a few people would be able to interpret. Show pupils a portrait that includes a deliberately coded message,
eg the 'Sunflower' self-portrait attributed to Van Dyck, and explain the hidden codes.
- Pupils, individually or in pairs or small groups, design a portrait of a specific individual. The intention is not to draw a likeness, but to include coded messages that the individual or an artist would wish to be understood by people viewing the portrait.
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- identify 'messages' in portraits and begin to infer meanings
- describe similarities and differences between portraits from across the period
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