I had the chance to visit the Louvre and see the Mona Lisa in person many years ago. What I thought would be a huge and impressive painting was actually a small and somewhat dull portrait. What’s all the fuss with the Mona Lisa? There have been many theories about the woman’s expression, about what her real name is, and even about the portrait being of Da Vinci himself painted as a female. Though I am not a die-hard fan of the work, it is still an interesting piece of history and a quintessential piece of Renaissance art. This week we will re-create the Mona Lisa using a grid-drawing technique. This will tie in our history sentence and expose students to another way to accurately draw what we see.
Below you will find three lesson plans: one for ages 4-6, 7-9, and 10-11. The lesson plan PDF includes tutor directions, line drawing of the Mona Lisa, and gridded paper. Continue Reading →