Purpose of the WorkshopThe short workshop will give learners the chance to pose their own questions about the painting through a process of dialogue and drawing. These questions or ‘enquiries’ will then begin to be linked to facts and knowledge about the artwork.

Each learner will make a contribution on a page of A2 paper that may contain their own questions, drawings, notes, observations and ideas about the Portrait of Pope Innocent X and will form the creative ‘product’ of the learning process. Each of these pages can form your own class group’s ‘artists’ sketch book’. It could also provide a platform for further development in the classroom after your exhibition visit. Each page will represent an entry point into the artwork from the perspective that is important to each learner.

The Artistic ApproachKarl believes that one of the most important creative skills that an artist needs is the ability to tolerate ‘not knowing’ the outcome before learning and investigation begins. Negotiating healthy degrees of the unfamiliar and unexpected are essential factors in coping with change and are vital in the development of flexible and adaptable learners. To get the most from looking at great art similar skills are needed; artworks usually pose questions of the viewer and can seldom offer answers.

With this in mind, it is important that learners working with the artwork follow a ‘questions-led approach’ to learning, rather than pursuing a set of answers that relate to a body of specific knowledge. Teachers might consider the process as a kind of ‘wondering out loud’– this is an important faculty in mature learning. This is an opportunity to try a different approach, develop confidence in learning, and to broaden the perception of the range of skills needed to be an artist.

Workshop plan for Diego Velázquez’s portrait of pope innocent X

This workshop plan is based on the 30 minute artist workshop developed and delivered by our Artist in Residence Karl Foster as part of ‘From Russia with Love’ – the education programme for the Houghton Revisited exhibition.

The workshop is designed to be used before your visit to the exhibition to provide a fun and engaging way to help prepare you and your children to gain the most from your day.

The aim of the workshop is to support the development of visual literacy skills and to develop confidence and curiosity in learners so that they may successfully engage with works of art, as well as to introduce a basic interpretation strategy that encourages students to build from what can be deduced directly from an artwork.

In collaboration with the State Hermitage Museum

Exhibition sponsors

Education programme sponsors

The Velázquez workshop is aimed at secondary level learners (Key Stages 3 and 4). The approach is completely flexible, and can be applied to any of the paintings you look at with a class group in future.

Duration:30 minutes’ preparation time and 30 minute duration

What you’ll need:• One / several large copies of the artwork or individual copies for each learner• Another papal portrait is needed to use as a working example of how you would like students to apply

the interpretative approach that generates words• Desktop /clipboards (we suggest learners sit around a large copy of the image in a horseshoe formation with

clipboards, however this can be done at the desk with individual copies of the image)• Sharp pencil• 2 pieces of A2 paper (ideally hole punched to become pages of a sketchbook later on). One sheet is intended to be

a ‘rough’ sheet so recycled paper might be a good idea. Scrap paper is also needed for writing down interpretative words about the painting

• Waste paper bin

Step 1 IntroductionIntroduce the artwork to the learners, explaining that it is one of the important works featured as part of the Houghton Revisited exhibition, and give a brief history of the collection and exhibition (if relevant).

Visit www.houghtonrevisited.com for general information.

2 minutes

Step 2 Blind drawing exerciseLearners should be encouraged to address their anxieties about ‘getting things wrong’ soon after the introduction stage, which is the purpose of this exercise. Drawing without looking down at the paper is a well-established method of getting developing artists past initial inhibitions.

As well as an ‘ice-breaker’ this exercise is to question the process of drawing itself – it asks us to consider the inherent values of different ways of drawing and the importance of mistakes, errors and the revisions in the enquiry process.

Ask learners to draw a quick attempt at copying the Portrait of Pope Innocent X – at this stage they should be encouraged to get a whole head on the paper (i.e. eyes, nose, mouth, chin, hat etc.). Ask them to take their ‘rough’ sheet of paper and draw their way around the head with the simple rule that they must not look down at their sheet of paper. Give pupils one minute to do this in silence. Encourage the students to draw firmly and to fill the paper provided. After one minute tell them to put their pencil down and to look at their drawing. There will no doubt be much laughter and discussion when they look down; allow learners to do this amongst themselves for a further minute or so.

Now ask them why they laughed, and invite their responses. Explain to learners that it is OK to get it wrong, and within artistic practice ideas of ‘rightness’ are to be questioned – enjoy the process of exploring with their pencils and not knowing the outcome. (Erasers are not allowed for this process.)

Invite learners to put their drawings in the bin if they wish – you may like to ask why they did/didn’t put it in the bin. Teachers who are familiar with the work of Picasso or Matisse might use these artists as examples to consider how value is constructed within portraiture.

8 minutes

2WORKSHOP PLAN FOR DIEGO VELázquEz’S PortraIt of PoPe Innocent X

Step 3 Evocative words task Explain to learners that they are going to engage in a process that focuses attention on what can be ‘read’ from the visual language of any painting.

In small groups, learners should write down four evocative words per person that are stimulated directly from the Portrait of Pope Innocent X. You can give some examples to kick-start this process. using your other chosen portrait, discuss the contrasts and ask for other associated words from the learners.

When the groups have finished writing ask them to nominate somebody within the group to call out all the words they have generated. See how many similar and different words there are. Ask the students about the range of words.

Visit www.houghtonrevisited.com/education for a list of example words about Portrait of Pope Innocent X.

7 minutes

Step 4 Comparative discussion about papal portraitureThis is the opportunity for teachers to share some information about the painting with the learners. Conventions demanded that the sitter did not smile, sat in similar poses and wore specific clothing. The key issue is that the personality of the Pope had to be communicated through the eyes. Comparing the emotions that learners feel are communicated through the eyes and hands might generate some interesting discussions that relate to the words in the previous task.

An interesting angle is to draw comparisons with modernist Papal portraiture, in particular Francis Bacon’s Study after Velázquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X, where the conventions are turned on their head.

Visit www.houghtonrevisited.com/education for some facts about Velázquez.

5 minutes

Step 5 A question and a drawingusing the hole-punched sheet, ask learners to repeat the blind-drawing task with a reminder of the attention that needs to be paid to the eyes. Complete the sheet with a question. The question can be directed towards Innocent X, Velázquez, portraiture or painting.

Visit www.houghtonrevisited.com/education for examples of artworks in our gallery.

8 minutes

3

Additional resources:• A similar approach to enquiring through art can be found through the National Gallery’s take one Picture project:

www.takeonepicture.org

• In camera - francis Bacon: Photography, film and the Practice of Painting by Martin Harrison

• Velázquez: Painter and courtier by Jonathan Brown

WORKSHOP PLAN FOR DIEGO VELázquEz’S PortraIt of PoPe Innocent X

eXample list of questions for Diego Velázquez’s portrait of pope innocent XThis list of common questions is designed to accompany the workshop plan for Diego Velázquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X. used as an aid to support teachers in delivering the workshop themselves, the questions are derived from actual examples generated by learners during the artist’s workshop as part of the Houghton Revisited exhibition.

Lower secondary-level questions• Why do Popes look so serious in all the portraits?

• Why are his eyes staring everywhere?

• Why can’t he smile?

• Is he evil or innocent?

• Why does he look very stern and red?

• What is he feeling?

• Why is he biting his lip?

• How long did he live?

• Why does he wear lots of red?

• How did he come to power?

• How old was he?

• Is he tall or short?

• Why is he so creepy?

• Why does he have so much power?

• Why didn’t Velázquez paint the legs?

• Where was it painted?

• What kind of person was he?

• What kind of life did he lead?

• How long did it take to paint it?

• How much did the painting cost?

Upper secondary-level questions• Why does he look so menacing?

• Did anything happen before the portrait was painted?

• Why does eye contact matter so much?

• What is on his mind?

• How did he die?

• Does what the artist think and feel change or alter how a drawing looks?

• Did the artist like the sitter?

• Whose idea was it to paint this portrait?

• How does the artist get the picture to look real?

• Were there other paintings of this Pope?

• Was he an honest Pope?

• Did he do anything to make him feel guilty and uneasy?

• Why do the Pope’s eyes look directly at the person viewing the art?

• Can one painting or drawing be better than another?

• How far could you push the limits of a conventional practice?

In collaboration with the State Hermitage Museum

Exhibition sponsors

Education programme sponsors

eXample list of WorDs for Diego Velázquez’s portrait of pope innocent X

This list of common words is designed to accompany the workshop plan for Diego Velázquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X. used as an aid to support teachers in delivering the workshop themselves, the words are derived from actual examples generated by learners during the artist’s workshop as part of the Houghton Revisited exhibition.

The size of the word corresponds to how often it was used by learners.

The emotional state and personality of Pope Innocent X:

How Pope Innocent X makes one feel:

serious

scared

freaked out smalllooking right through me

eyes following me

overruled

overpowered

controlled nervousworried

strange inside

threatened

intimidateduncomfortable

guiltyfrightened

fearfuluneasy

terrified

angrypowerful

sad

judging

important

creepy

uncomfortableannoyedevil

determined stern

guilty

sly

thoughtful frustrated

solemn

authoritative

concerned

quiet