The portraits of Queen Elizabeth I, Florence Nightingale, T S Eliot and Dorothy Hodgkin are in the National Portrait Gallery. TESPrimary is grateful for the assistance of the gallery’s education officer, Clare Gittings, for her help in selecting the pictures and with the text. For details of educational visits to the gallery, call 020 7312 2483.

* TES Primary has 10 free art poster packs to give away - see page 49 for details.

Children are often asked, in their art lessons, to create portraits - self-portraits, or pictures of friends - in a range of media. As well as demanding close observation, portrait work encourages children to see that it’s possible not just to create a neutral likeness, but to include elements that tell you something of the person’s interests or character. In the portraits we’ve reproduced here we show how artists over the years have attempted to make their subjects come to life as real people.

* Queen Elizabeth I (the coronation portrait) by an unknown artist. About 1600.

Elizabeth was 26 when this portrait was painted. She’s shown as wearing heavy make-up that makes her skin look very white. She’s wearing the coronation robes and carrying the symbols of her power - the orb, the sceptre and the crown. Her hair is long and loose, as was traditional for a queen at her coronation.

What you can do

Create a portrait of someone important in your life (maybe your teacher or a sports coach) and include things that show the person’s importance. You could paint or draw the person, or you could start with a photograph of the person stuck to a larger sheet.

* The Capel Family by Cornelius Jonson. About 1640.

This family portrait shows Arthur and Elizabeth Capel with their three sons and two daughters - Mary, Elizabeth, Henry, Arthur and Charles. They’re a rich family, owning a vast area of land. The baby has, on a ribbon, a teether - something to chew on - made of coral which is mounted in gold.

What you can do

Do you have brothers and sisters, or cousins, or close friends? Can you make a group picture of them? Perhaps you could arrange some photographs, adding some ideas of your own, or you could do all the portraits yourself.

* Florence Nightingale at Scutari by Jerry Barrett. Between about 1856 and 1858.

There are lots of people in this picture, but there’s no doubt about who is the main subject, even though she’s smaller than many of the others. The artist wanted to show her at work, looking after wounded soldiers - that’s what she’s famous for. Florence Nightingale was one of the first skilful, well-organised and dedicated nurses.

What you can do

Can you do a picture of a workplace that you know, with someone you know as the main subject? An office, a workshop, or a modern hospital? * T S Eliot by Patrick Heron. 1949.

This is really two pictures in one - a full-face picture, and a profile (side view). The profile is darker, because the artist wanted to show that Eliot had two sides to his work as a writer. He wrote light-hearted, humorous poems, such as Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, and serious works, such as The Wasteland. This would be difficult to show in a photograph, but the artist succeeds in doing it in this portrait.

What you can do

Can you do a “two-in-one” picture of yourself or a friend, showing two sides of the person’s character or interests? * Dorothy Hodgkin by Maggi Hambling. 1985.

Dorothy Hodgkin won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1964, for her work on vitamins and drugs such as penicillin. She was also very active in organisations working for world peace. She was a very busy person, with many interests, and the artist has chosen an interesting way of showing this - again in a way that couldn’t easily be done in a photograph.

What you can do Do you know an elderly person who is very active and does lots of things? Can you try to show all these interests in a picture?

Famous images can inspire your pupils to create their own works of art.

* “She ain’t holding them up; she’s holding on” by Sonia Boyce. 1986.

This is a family portrait (it’s not a painting, but a drawing, done in pastels), but it doesn’t just show you a family, it is a picture of a young woman and her own past. She’s breaking away from her own childhood and her parents but she’s also still linked with them, still depending on them in many ways. The title of the picture explains this.

What you can do Can you create a picture in which you appear twice - showing you when you were much younger, and as you are now?

TEACHER NOTES

In each case, discuss with the children the “added value” that the artist has put into the picture over and above the likeness. Sometimes it’s very obvious - the symbols of sovereignty in Queen Elizabeth I’s coronation picture; the extensive parkland in the Capel family portrait, showing their wealth and power; the charisma of Florence Nightingale, despite her small stature - the light shines on her, the wounded soldier points. Sometimes it’s less obvious, as with the “two-in-one” rendering of T S Eliot.

Can children create a portrait of their own (of themselves or a friend) that adds value and shows the person’s character and interests? The person could carry something relevant, or there could be an appropriate book in the picture. Some children might try a “dual” portrait that showed the person, say, in a ballroom dance dress and in a different colour or texture - for example, in netball kit. Encourage bold experimentation.

Additional questions Queen Elizabeth I Coronation portrait Was she really so thin? No. It was fashionable to be thin, and the artist is making her look thinner than she was.

Was she comfortable? Without doubt she wasn’t - the bodice is tight and stiff, the ruff is scratchy and restrictive. It’s all to do with fashion.

Why was she so white? Peasants and poor people who worked outside had tanned faces. Rich people used make-up to look pale to show they didn’t have to work.

The Capels

Can you tell which are the boys and which the girls? The children, from left to right: Arthur, Charles, Henry (the baby) Elizabeth, Mary. The oldest boy is named after his father. But it’s the younger girl who is named Elizabeth after her mother. Can you guess why? There was an older child named Elizabeth, but she died after Mary was born. So the next girl was called Elizabeth.

Florence Nightingale.

Is this hospital like one you have been in or visited? It’s a military hospital. Florence Nightingale worked tirelessly to improve conditions there. The handkerchiefs used as bandages are a sign of the shortage of supplies.

The man peeping through the window is the artist. Why did he paint himself in the picture? To show that he was really there and didn’t make events up the in the picture.

T S Eliot

How has the artist used colour in this picture? There are brighter colours and quieter colours to differentiate between the two halves, and between the two faces. Without this use of colour, the picture would be more difficult to understand.

Dorothy Hodgkin

What is Dorothy Hodgkin doing with her four hands? Painting, holding a piece of paper, using a magnifying glass, writing.

How does the way the picture is painted suit the busy person in the portrait? The artist has used quick, short strokes rather than long smooth ones.

Sonia Boyce

How does the artist show the contrast between herself and her past family life? With her clothes and her hair style.

How many times does the artist herself appear in the picture? Twice - as a child (the younger of the two girls), and as an adult in the lower half of the picture.

What other artist does Sonia Boyce’s work remind you of? She acknowledges the influence of the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, and the Belgian artist Rene Magritte (you could also show the children some of their work).