Art theme: portraits

A portrait is an artwork that depicts a specific individual. Initially, portraiture primarily consisted of paintings of the rich and powerful who had commissioned the work, but the genre has grown to depict a wider range of subjects over time and has been further democratised by photography. The term 'portrait' can also refer to an artwork's layout being taller than it is wide, as opposed to a landscape, which is the opposite.

Look, describe and discuss

Open a full-screen version of the zoomable image in a new window.

Ask your students to describe the artwork, encouraging them to simply say what they can see.

You can start by showing the whole image, and then use the zoom feature to explore details of the painting. Or you might like to start by using the zoom feature to show a detail from the image, and then zoom out to see more.

Encourage your students to look carefully – this is their superpower! It's best to not give too much background information about the artwork at this stage, so students can develop their own ideas and opinions.

An audio description of the painting is available. It is accompanied by a full written transcript which can also be used to describe the painting.

Nudge questions

Now when looking at the painting, ask more specific ('nudge') questions:

• What is Elizabeth wearing for this portrait?
• What is Elizabeth holding?
• Which colours are used most in this painting?
• Look carefully at the background scenes. What do they show?
• Where do you think Elizabeth is sitting for this portrait? What might you see, smell or hear if you were transported into the painting?

Questions from The Superpower of Looking Kit

Now we can start to explore the 'elements' of the painting.

For this artwork, you will focus on:

• Figures (gesture, expression and symbols)
• Composition

Ask your students to evidence their points:

• where exactly are they looking when they make a statement?
• can everybody see what they see?
• slow down, take time to really look closely

You can introduce knowledge from the contextual background for teachers while asking these bespoke questions with helpful responses which can be found in the teachers' notes.

Everyone learning

You can find out more about The Superpower of Looking SEND/ASD/ALN/ASN approach on the Superpower homepage.

Now it's time to explore the artwork in different ways. This list of sensory activities encourages students to apply their learning and can suit a variety of learning needs.

Make
We suggest creative activities for all learners, including a tactile option to support students with vision impairment: these activities explore the tactile qualities of materials or involve gestural mark-making to further explore the artwork.

• Draw a map of the British Isles, taking inspiration from the globe under Elizabeth’s right hand. Make use of thick outlines and a limited colour scheme, as you can see on the globe. Lots of ships were wrecked off the coastlines of Scotland and Ireland, as can be seen in the top right of the painting. How will your students indicate this danger on their map? Once drawn, you could ‘age’ the paper with tea or coffee. 
• Tactile option: make a paper ruff. Try this guide from Royal Museums Greenwich. 

Experience

• Listen to the audio description of the painting.

• Explore textures from the painting: lace, feathers, velvet, silk, pearls (or strings of beads). 
• Using a large sheet, replicate the contrasting waves depicted in the two seascapes. You could use the BBC Sound Effects library to find sounds of seas in different weather conditions. 

Communicate

• As a leader Elizabeth had to communicate strength to her people and the rest of the world. Practise copying Elizabeth's pose. Can you come up with two more of your own? Imagine you are Elizabeth – write a list of tips she might give to other leaders who are women on how to present a strong image.
• Learn the Makaton sign for 'queen'.

Final stage: review

Ask your students to:

• share their sketchbooks in groups and discuss the 'elements' they have identified
• choose an element/aspect they find most interesting about the artwork and record it in their sketchbooks
• choose their own name/s for the title of the artwork
• think of a question they would like to ask the artist

Congratulations!

You have now completed this lesson resource on The Superpower of Looking.

There are more resources in this theme to try – have a look at the 'next lessons' section below.

You can also find The Superpower of Looking videos on BBC Teach as part of their Art & Design 7–11 resources.