Grades/Level: Upper Elementary (3–5), Middle School (6–8), High School (9–12)
Subjects: Visual Arts
Time Required: Short Activity
30 minutes
Author: J. Paul Getty Museum Education Staff

Activity Overview

Students search for angels and demons within the paintings in the medieval and Renaissance galleries at the Getty Center. They examine the ways that artists made these invisible creatures visible.

Learning Objectives

Students should be able to:
• list three visual characteristics of angels and demons that distinguish them from depictions of humans.
• describe an angel or demon in words or in a sketch.
• define the terms angel and demon.

Materials

• Seeing the Invisible: Angels and Demons worksheet
• Works of art in the Getty Museum's North Pavilion, Upper Level at the Getty Center

Activity Steps

1. Take students to the upper level of the Museum's North Pavilion at the Getty Center.

2. Give each student a copy of the Seeing the Invisible: Angels and Demons worksheet and a pencil. Activities on the sheet have students look for objects in the galleries and answer questions, sketch, and write about them.

3. Ask the students to find images of angels and demons in the paintings in the galleries. These creatures will sometimes be difficult to find. They will have to look closely at the details of the paintings.

4. On their own, or as a group discussion, have students answer the questions on the worksheet. Have a discussion about the ways artists made it clear that angels are not the same as people.

5. Have students complete the last two activities on their own. The first one asks them to sketch or describe in words the angel that looks the most glorious, or the demon that looks the most evil. The second activity asks students to pretend they are an art teacher and describe to their students how to draw an angel or a demon.