Grades/Level: Lower Elementary (K–2), Middle School (6–8), High School (9–12)
Subjects: Visual Arts, Science
Time Required: 3–5–Part Lesson
1–3 class periods
Author: J. Paul Getty Museum Education Staff

Lesson Overview

Students will identify the natural resources that were used to make an illuminated manuscript during the Renaissance. They will research the origins of these materials to determine which are renewable resources, and which are available in California.

Learning Objectives

Students will:
• identify the natural resources used to create an illuminated manuscript page.
• research the natural sources of the materials used to create the illuminated manuscript.
• classify the resources used to make the manuscript as renewable or non-renewable.
• determine which resources used to make the manuscript are found or produced in California.

Materials

Beginning Level Activity:
• Image of the page depicting The French King at Court from the manuscript The Story of Two Lovers (follow link below)
• Background Information and Questions for Teaching about the manuscript page (follow link below)
• Copy of the book Marguerite Makes a Book by Bruce Robertson, available from the Getty bookstore
• Making Manuscripts video (follow link below)
• Samples of parchment, lapis lazuli, ultramarine powdered pigment, raw ochre, and gold leaf, purchased from an art supply store

Intermediate Level Activity:
• Materials above, plus:
• Paper and pencils
• Internet access or earth science texts for research

Advanced Level Activity:
• Materials above, plus:
• Color image of the manuscript page
• Poster board
• Pens or thin markers
• Internet access or earth science texts for research

Lesson Steps

Beginning Level Activity

1. To motivate students and give them some context about illuminated manuscripts and how they were made, read Marguerite Makes a Book to the class.

2. Display an image of the manuscript page from the Getty, or hand out photocopies. Share background information about the page with the class. Explain that at the time this book was made, it had to be done entirely by hand using resources that are found in nature. Students may also watch the video Making Manuscripts, and view information from the exhibition The Making of a Medieval Book.

3. Have students guess about all of the materials that would go into making the page they are looking at. Chart the materials students mention, providing guidance as needed and using background material. The materials include parchment made from the skin of a sheep, paint made of various minerals and bound with egg, and gold.

4. Pass out samples of parchment and have students look closely to see the pores in the skin. Pass out pieces of lapis lazuli stone for students to handle. You can show students any other resources used to make illuminated manuscripts including other minerals used for pigments. Hand out the following fragile materials in glass or plastic vials: ultramarine, raw umber, cochineal beetles, gold leaf.

5. Remind students what they learned from Marguerite Makes a Book. Ask them to think about the resources that went into making this contemporary book. Chart this list of resources next to the resources they identified for the manuscript. These materials include paper made from trees and man-made inks. Ask students to speculate about why the materials for book-making have changed. For information about how bookmaking has changed, visit the page about book production on the ORB (On-line Reference for Medieval Book Studies) Web site.

6. Choose one of the raw materials used to make the manuscript and have students discuss with a partner how they think that resource is turned into paint, parchment, ink, etc. Students should write down their speculations or draw three or four key steps in the process they discussed.

Intermediate Level Activity

7. Have students work with a partner or in a small group to determine where the resources used to make a manuscript that they charted in the previous activity are found in the natural world. Students should then determine which resources are renewable and which are non-renewable. Use background information for this lesson to support discussion.

8. Have students share their findings. Ask students if they think books today contain more renewable resources than illuminated manuscripts. Are contemporary books more friendly to the environment than medieval books? Why or why not?

Advanced Level Activity

9. In pairs, students will make a list of the resources researched in the intermediate activity and determine through further research where in California these resources can be found and which are native to the state of California. If some are not native to California, students should find native substitutes that could fulfill the same function.

10. Mount an image of the manuscript page onto a larger piece of paper or poster board and give partners an opportunity to label the elements of the manuscript that they would use native California resources to recreate.

11. Have students work in pairs to make an illuminated resource map of California showing the locations in the state where each manuscript resource comes from. Have students read information about Renaissance manuscripts in the overview of the Getty's online presentation for a past exhibition, French Manuscript Illumination of the Middle Ages. You may wish to print copies of this Web page in advance and hand them out to students. In their illuminated maps, students should follow the techniques of Renaissance manuscript illumination, for example, by using naturalistic rendering of objects and an emphasis on space. Students can look at other Renaissance manuscripts on the Getty Web site to find authentic details they may wish to incorporate in their maps.

Extensions

Have students make a book out of local natural resources such as leaves and bark. Limit the materials to local resources that students can obtain without spending money to reinforce that art making is sometimes limited by economics, resources, and geography.

Standards Addressed

Refer to the charts for national and California state standards for this curriculum, found in the links at the top right of this page.