The Incredulity of Saint Thomas
Image courtesy of Mark Harden's Artchive
¡Bienvenidos!
| This page contains activities about Baroque Art, corresponding
to Level A Spanish. To complete most activities, you will need to explore
other links in the World Wide Web. To facilitate this, PRINT THIS PAGE
NOW (choose "print" under the "File" menu) SO THAT YOU CAN REFER TO IT
AS YOU LINK TO OTHER SITES.
|
| Michelangelo Merisi, was born in 1573 in the small town of Caravaggio
near Milan
in northern Italy. Later in life he became know simply as Caravaggio
after the town of his birth. Caravaggio's parents were victims of the plague
and he became an orphan at the age of eleven. He soon moved to Milan where
he learned the techniques of master painters of the day. In 1590,
he moved to Rome, the artistic capital of Italy, where he continued to develop
his own style of painting and was soon recognized as one of the most talented
painters of his time.
As a painter, Caravaggio rejected many of the artistic conventions of the period, filling his works with greater realism and emotion. He explored the contrasts between light and dark, a technique which came to be known by the Italian word "chiaroscuro." This technique, which gives further dimension to a work and helps to make the paintings resemble photographs, is typical of paintings of the Baroque Period. Caravaggio could be referred to as a "sinner who painted saints." Caravaggio the painter chose to depict religious themes as was common in the XVI and XVII centuries. But Caravaggio the man was frequently in trouble with the law. He was arrested on several occasions for such crimes as disturbing the peace, carrying arms, and fighting. In 1606, after participating in a fight and being charged with murder, he had to flee Rome. He traveled to many cities, always staying one step ahead of the law. It is said that he died in 1610 after receiving a beating while possibly suffering from a very high fever. Although Caravaggio refused to work with assistants or students, several painters from different countries who worked during the same time period were greatly influenced by this Italian master. Among these painters is Diego Velázquez of Sevilla, Spain. In the following activities, you will be introduced to the work of Diego
Velázquez by viewing one of his most famous paintings.
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Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (1599-1660) was one of Caravaggio's contemporaries in "el arte barroco," (Baroque art), meaning that he lived and worked during the same approximate time period as Caravaggio. Take a look at one of Velazquez's most famous works by clicking on his name above, and then complete the corresponding activities:
1. ¿Cómo se llama el artista?
_________________________________________________________
2. ¿En qué año pintó este cuadro?
_________________________________________________________
4. ¿Cuáles son los personajes principales del cuadro? (Pon un círculo.)
_________________________________________________________
6. ¿En qué ciudad está este museo? ¿En qué país?
_________________________________________________________
| ¿Sabías tú?
An infante or infanta is the son or daughter of a Spanish king and queen who is not an heir to the throne. The Infanta Margarita that you see in Velázquez's Las Meninas was the daughter of Felipe IV. Despite being a member of the royal family, she would never become queen or princess, because she was not the oldest child in the family. |
Actividad 2:
Click here to find an actual picture of Velázquez's Las Meninas.
Compare it to the sketch
in the link from Actividad 1.
Now that you have identified some of the people in this famous painting,
can you answer the following questions in Spanish?
1. ¿Cuántas personas hay en el cuadro?
_________________________________________________________
2. ¿Qué tipo de ropa llevan las personas? Pon una
X al lado de la ropa que ves en el cuadro.
| _____ camisas | _____ botas |
| _____ sombreros | _____ calcetines |
| _____ pantalones | _____ trajes de baño |
| _____ vestidos | _____ zapatos de tenis |
| _____ pantalones cortos | _____ guantes |
3. ¿Cómo es la Infanta Margarita? (Tres adjetivos, por favor.)
_________________________________________________________
4. ¿De qué color es la ropa del pintor? ¿Cómo es él?
_________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
5. ¿Qué colores principales ves en el cuadro?
_________________________________________________________
6. ¿Qué animal hay en el cuadro?
_________________________________________________________
7. Al mirar el cuadro, ¿de dónde viene la luz? ¿De tu derecha o de tu izquierda?
_________________________________________________________
8. ¿Dónde está el espejo?
_________________________________________________________
| ¿Sabías tú?
The two people you see reflected in the mirror are Felipe
IV and his wife, María Ana de Austria, the king and queen of Spain
at the time when Velázquez painted this picture. The painter
you see is actually a self-portrait of Velázquez, looking out of
the painting at the king and queen, who are in the mirror. If, over 300
years ago, you were observing the scene instead of King Felipe and Queen
María Ana -- it would be your reflection in the mirror and not theirs!
|
Actividad 3:
¡Qué grande!
In Spain, as in many places in the world, measurements are taken using the metric system, whose basic units include meters and centimeters instead of the feet and inches we use in the United States. Find out the metric dimensions of Las Meninas and write them below.
Las dimensiones del cuadro Las
Meninas: ________________________________
| ¿Qué piensas?
How big do you think this is in feet?
b) 6' x 4' c) 8' x 7' d) 10' x 9' e) 12' x 10' |
Now you need to convert
these metric dimensions into feet and inches!
1. How large is Las Meninas in feet and inches?
_________________________________________________________
2. To get an idea of just how big this painting is, ask yourself the following:
Actividad 4:
El Siglo de Oro
Diego Velázquez, like Caravaggio and many other famous European
painters, lived during a time period called el Siglo de Oro.
1. A siglo, in Spanish, is a period of one hundred years. What do we call this same amount of time in English?
______________
2. Using Roman numerals, we say that Spain's Siglo de Oro was during the XVI and XVII centuries. To what years does this correspond?
______________
3. What siglo are we currently in? ______________ Can you write this using Roman numerals? ______________
4. In Spanish, the word oro means gold. Can you imagine why this time period in Spain is known as the Golden Age, (literally, Century of Gold)?
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
ACTIVIDADES DE EXPLORACIÓN ARTÍSTICA
For the following activities, you will visit an online art museum (Artchive).
Choose the name of the artist on the left to view this artist's paintings. Besides
Diego Velázquez, among other Spanish artists that created Baroque art
were Bartolomé Murillo and Francisco de Zurbarán. To look for
a painter's works, choose his last name in the index on the left. Then scroll
down the window on the right and click on some of the paintings.
Actividad 5: Choose one painting (cuadro) from the museum that is your favorite and answer the following questions while looking at it:
1. ¿Cómo se llama el cuadro?
___________________________________________________________
2. ¿Quién es el artista?
___________________________________________________________
3. ¿De qué año es el cuadro?
___________________________________________________________
4. En tu opinión, ¿es grande o pequeño el cuadro?
___________________________________________________________
5. ¿Cuáles son sus colores principales?
___________________________________________________________
6. ¿Cuántos personajes (people) hay en el cuadro?
___________________________________________________________
7. ¿Qué hacen los personajes?
___________________________________________________________
8. ¿Por qué te gusta el cuadro?
___________________________________________________________
Actividad 6: In Actividades 1,
2 & 3, you studied Las Meninas by Velázquez.
Is there a painting in the online museum that is similar to (parecido
a) Las Meninas? Which? Fill in the following information:
El cuadro _____________________________ , del artista __________________________,
es parecido a Las Meninas. Este cuadro fue pintado en el año
____________ .
Es parecido a Las Meninas por su(s): (Check all that apply.)
| _____ color |
_____ personajes |
_____ tema (theme) |
| _____ luz / sombra |
_____ acción |
_____ tamaño (size) |
| _____ realismo |
¿Otra cosa? __________ |
|
Actividad 7: Pick another painting that makes
a strong impression on you (it must be different from the one you picked for
Actividad 6). Check off the adjectives from the list below that
best describe how the painting makes you feel.
|
contento(a) ____ |
triste ____ |
confuso(a) ____ |
|
enojado(a) ____ |
tranquilo(a) ____ |
asustado(a) ____ |
|
nervioso(a) ____ |
curioso(a) ____ |
aburrido(a) ____ |
Now fill in the following information about the painting you picked:
Título del cuadro: ______________________________________________
El artista: ______________________________________________
El año en que fue pintado el cuadro: ______________
Cuando yo miro este cuadro, me siento ____________________________________ (use adjectives from above) porque ________________________________________.
AHORA TE TOCA A TI
After viewing paintings online, do the following activity.
Actividad 8: Look at the information you collected for Actividad 5. You answered eight questions about your favorite baroque painting (cuadro) from the art website. Now organize your notes and thoughts into a short paragraph, describing which painting was your favorite and why. Make sure you include the following:
el título
el artista
el año en que fue pintado
una descripción del cuadro
por qué te gusta
Please write your paragraph on a separate sheet of paper, write clearly, and double space.
Original page created by Jennifer Sopko, updated by Elena
Ivanova with the collaboration of Debbie
Rusch.
