Activities full of historical facts, insights and fun learning opportunities
The Power of the Portrait: School Resources
Whether painted or photographic, portraits have the power to show us who people are- their personality and their story. Artists use a range of techniques, skills and materials in order to achieve a composition that is unique to the person the portrait portrays.
Use these resources to discover what a portrait is, how to look at them, and how to create a portrait of your own.
This resource set takes inspiration from 10 portraits commissioned by His Majesty The King to celebrate Windrush Day in 2023. You can find out more about these portraits throughout these resources, and by using the links below.
These resources have been created by Royal Collection Trust and The Royal Drawing School. Use these resources to discover what a portrait is, how to look at them, and how to create a portrait of your own.
Guidance notes on teaching the history of Windrush can be found via this link to the Dept. of Education website.
What are Portraits?
A portrait is an image of a person. We are surrounded by images of people every day- on the television, in photographs, on phones, on book covers and in posters. And so, what makes an image of a person a portrait?
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Looking at Portraits
Artists make decisions about all of the above, in order to best present their sitter- meaning that each portrait is entirely different. It is unique to the person that it portrays.
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Making Portaits
In this section, you can download some fun exercises to try yourself, created by the Royal Drawing School and inspired by the portraits commissioned for the Windrush 75 commemoration.
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