Featuring a mixture of colour illustrations of nine artworks from the Italian Masterpieces collection, information, and art activity pages, Master the Arts! encourages children to think about art and artists and use some of the ideas and techniques used by famous artists in their own drawings.
Children learn about artists such as Raphael, Titian, Giambattista Tiepolo and Jacopo Tintoretto as well as the different subjects and symbols used in paintings. This includes references to Greek and Roman mythology, Bible stories, and paintings of royalty.
Activities include adding decorations to face masks, adding fruit and flowers to drawings, drawing portraits, designing a flag and coat of arms, and creating a gory story to match the Roman amphitheatre image in Viviano Codazzi and Domenico Gargiolo’s Perspectival view of a Roman amphitheatre (Vista prospettica di un anfieteatro romano).
Master the Arts! will help children who already enjoy drawing and creative activities to connect their own work with that of ‘real’ artists and hopefully spark their interest into reading more about art and artists or even visiting their local art gallery. For those children who don’t always know what to do when offered a blank piece of paper, Master the Arts! offers some gentle guidance to get things started.
A book to be drawn in and inspire drawings and paintings elsewhere, Master the Arts! helps children to see art as more than paintings on a wall. It uncovers the story behind the paintings, both the image on the canvas as well as the life and experiences of the painters who created those images and is another wonderful publication by the NGV to connect kids with art.
The Italian Masterpieces from Spain’s Royal Court, Museo del Prado exhibition can be seen at the National Gallery of Victoria until the 31st August 2014. Master the Arts! is available for purchase from the NGV bookshop.
Title: Master the Arts! A Kids' Activity Book About Italian Masterpieces
Author: Kate Ryan
Illustrator: Tim Fleming
Publisher: National Gallery of Victoria, $14.95 RRP
Publication Date: May 2014
Format: Soft Cover
ISBN: 9780724103904
For ages: 6 - 12
Type: Activity Book, Junior Non-Fiction
