Family

Guide

Family

Guide

We’re from Italy, and we’re so glad you’re here to visit this special exhibition of paintings from the Uffizi Gallery, one of the most famous art museums in the world. Let’s explore these paintings. We’re not doing all the work, so get your eyes ready for a special scavenger hunt.

Find a detail that you like in each painting. It can be hills, trees, a lake, or a building. Write it down in the space provided on the page.

Let’s go!Ragazzi (Kids): Use this guide to talk about the exhibition with your favorite adult.

Adulti (Adults): Use this guide to discuss the exhibition with your favorite kids.

When you draw or paint, what inspires you? Many of the artists in this exhibition were not Italian, but all of them were inspired by Italy—the beautiful countryside, the quality of light, and the great art, including ruins of ancient Roman buildings. The paintings in this exhibition are landscapes, pictures of outdoor scenes. In some of the paintings, you can see landscapes in the backgrounds. Other paintings are entirely landscapes. All the landscapes we’ll look at together have figures, or people, in them.

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Find this painting.What’s going on in this picture? The artist left the pale brown areas in the foreground (front) unfinished. What do you think they are?There are a lot of people! How does the artist use the landscape and the “rocks” to organize everyone?What other details do you notice? Does the background look real or made up to you? Why or why not?Artists may have sketched outdoors, but they painted inside because they used large canvases and needed a lot of materials to mix their own paints. It wasn’t until nearly 350 years after this was painted that artists could buy oil paint in tubes. This invention allowed them to take their supplies with them and paint outdoors.

Write your favorite detail here:

Crowd ControlBotticelli, The Adoration of the Magi, about 1500

Let’s look at a painting of Florence, Italy, my hometown. Charles VIII was the king of France when he took over Florence in 1494. The street is the Via Larga, and you can walk there today. (Via is the Italian word for street.)

Can you find Charles VIII? How can you tell which figure is the king? Why isn’t he a larger figure?Why could you call this picture a cityscape?Where do your eyes go? What does this picture tell you about the city of Florence? What else do you see in the background? This picture shows an artist using one point perspective. Imagine lines all pointing to the same place in the distance. This is called the vanishing point. The Taft Museum of Art’s painting Changing Pasture by Anton Mauve also uses one point perspective. You can see it in the hallway outside the Dining Room in the historic house.

Check this out: You’ll find great art in many Italian towns but especially in Florence, home to the Uffizi Gallery where many well-known paintings

are exhibited. Throughout Florence, you can find more famous art such as Michelangelo’s David. Michelangelo spent much of his life in this city, and you can visit his home.Find another cityscape of Florence in the exhibition. The picture shows the Piazza della Signoria, and it looks a lot like it does today!

Write your favorite detail here:

Making a Grand Entrance

Granacci, Entrance of Charles VIII into Florence, about 1515-17

Mauve, Changing Pasture, about 1887

Here’s what a picnic looked like 500 years ago! How does it look like our picnics today?How would you describe the trees in this picture? Is this an easy place to get to? How would you get to this place? What other examples of nature do you see? How have people changed the landscape?Look for other pictures of people enjoying themselves outside.

Write your favorite detail here:

Bread, Cheese, and AntsD’Angeli, Picnic on the Grass, 1619

What’s happening in this picture? What are the two men in the foreground (front) doing? In this painting based on a story from Greek mythology, Battus sees the god Mercury stealing cattle from the god Apollo. Mercury persuades Battus to keep as quiet as the stones. Later, Mercury tricks Battus into telling and turns him into a rock.

Describe the landscape. What does the landscape tell you about the story? What do you think the building on the right might be? Why do you think the artist put it in the painting?There are lots of paintings with shepherds (people who take care of sheep) in this exhibition. Can you find them?

Don’t Myth Out!

Van Poelenburgh, Mercury and Battus, about 1621

What’s going on? Can you see anything under the stone? In Greek mythology, the king of Athens buried his sword and sandals under a stone for his son Theseus to find. How do you suppose Theseus is able to lift the stone? This artist loved to include ancient architecture in his paintings. How does the artist show you that the building is old?

Write your favorite detail here:

Super HeroPoussin, Theseus Discovers His Father’s Weapons, about 1635

Marghera is near my hometown of Venice in northern Italy.What do you see in the picture? Where do your eyes go first?

How would you use the tower?What are the people in the boats doing?What do you think the weather is like? What clues help you to know?What other landscape details do you see?In Venice, our streets are canals, and we get from place to place in boats. If you look in the lower left-hand corner, you can see part of a boat called a gondola.

Water Water EverywhereCanaletto, The Tower of Marghera, about 1740-50

Write your favorite detail here:

Thanks for joining us. We hope you’ll come back to visit the Taft!

Till next time!Learn More about Landscapes and Italian ArtThe following resources are available from the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. Librarians are happy to provide you with additional ideas. You can get more information at www.cincinnatilibrary.org.

Turn the page to create your own masterpiece landscape!

Gladys Blizzard, Come Look With Me: Exploring Landscape Art with Children, 758.1 qB649.1992 Illustrated with full-color reproductions, an introduction to 12 fascinating landscape paintings.Lucia Corrain, The Art of the Renaissance, 709.024 qC823eE 1997 2008 An introduction to the major artists, artistic techniques, and cities of the Italian Renaissance.Web sitesHow Van Gogh Made His Mark Learn more about Vincent van Gogh and how he created his unique landscapes. Ages 8 and up. http://www.metmuseum.org/explore/van_gogh/menu.htmlCarmine’s Landscape Adventure Carmine Chameleon explores weather, light, mood, and depth in landscape paintings. Create your own landscape painting, too! Ages 7 and up. http://www.alifetimeofcolor.com/play/landscape1/index.htmlThe National Gallery’s Jungle Construct flowers and trees, control the weather, and mix and match animals in your imaginary landscape! All ages. http://www.nga.gov/kids/zone/jungle.htm

Your LandscapeNow, it’s your turn to create a landscape. Use the details you wrote down in this booklet, or use different details, such as an ocean, a field, or a garden.

Exhibition organized by Contemporanea Progetti, Florence, Italy,

in collaboration with Trust for Museum Exhibitions, Washington, D.C.

Views from the Uffizi: Painting the Italian LandscapeExhibition Sponsors:

Ellen and George Rieveschl EndowmentJosephine Schell Russell Charitable Trust, PNC Bank, Trustee

John W. Hauck Foundation, Fifth Third Bank, Co-TrusteeThe Kaplan Foundation

A Friend of the Taft Museum of ArtOliver Charitable Trust

Harold C. Schott FoundationLela C. Brown

The Carl H. Lindner FamilyMr. and Mrs. Carl F. Kalnow

Docents of the Taft Museum of ArtFine Arts Fund Partner: P&G

Media Partners: WGUC 90.9/WVXU 91.7

©2008 Taft Museum of Art Design by MPBuck

316 Pike Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202 (513) 241-0343 www.taftmuseum.org