Citizenship and Cross Curricular

The National Portrait Gallery's extensive displays of historic and contemporary portraits and active collecting and commissioning of images of present-day figures of national importance, create the ideal opportunity to study historical and contemporary contexts for Citizenship. Students can discuss and critique topics including democracy, including votes for women, and human rights, particularly the abolition of slavery. Many of our Citizenship sessions are cross-curricular (see section below), and can also be arranged as a videoconference. Make the most of a day of Citizenship by combining your session at the Gallery with a half-day visit to the Houses of Parliament.

Citizenship
Britain - a Diverse Society

This citizenship session questions whether the National Portrait Gallery's displays reflect the diversity of contemporary British society. Students discuss in detail three or four paintings from the contemporary Galleries. Working in small groups, students assess the displays for their cultural diversity, including by age, gender and disability, reporting back their findings to the whole class.

• Maximum 30 students
• One hour

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Cross Curricular

The National Portrait Gallery is an ideal context for a cross-curricular approach to its collections. By their very nature, portraits of significant individuals combine issues of artistic and of historical significance. Large-scale group paintings such as the 1833 House of Commons and the Anti-Slavery Convention of 1840 provide historical context for key citizenship topics. Images of significant people shaping contemporary Britain can be looked at both in terms of the diversity of the sitters and from an aesthetic perspective, combining citizenship and art.

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Cross Curricular History/Citizenship

Images of Power: From Divine Right to Democracy

Trace the process of establishing parliamentary democracy in Britain through images from three different periods - the reign of Charles I and the Interregnum, the House of Commons in 1833 and a selection of recent and present-day politicians. The focus is on changes in the nature and composition of parliament and identifying further changes students think they will see in their lifetimes.

This gallery session can include either a history or citizenship activity:

• History Activity - Students assess the relative significance of the particular historical events discussed in the session
• Citizenship Activity - Choosing and suggesting adaptations to one of the portraits from the discussion to inspire a design for a poster encouraging young adults today to vote

• 90 minutes
• Maximum 30 students
• The contemporary part of the session may take place in the Lecture Theatre depending on the current Gallery displays

Human Rights: The Abolition of Slavery

Looking at key figures along the road to abolition, this session culminates in an exploration of the large scale painting showing Thomas Clarkson addressing the Anti-Slavery Convention of 1840. The focus is on how individuals can work together to bring about major social change, considering the roles of different groups of people: British men, women, and freed slaves.

This gallery session can include either a history or a citizenship activity:

• History Activity -Students assess the relative significance of the different abolitionists discussed in the session
• Citizenship Activity - Selecting an anti-slavery campaigner whose tactics would make them a good role-model for running a present day human rights campaign

• 90 minutes
• Maximum 30 students
• Follow-up webquest: KS3 History Heroes of Abolition

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Votes for Women

Students analyse portraits of key figures, male and female, in both the suffrage and the anti-suffrage movements in this practical session mainly in the Lecture Theatre using slides. Students predict from the sitter's self-presentation which movement they are likely to fall into, testing their hypotheses against quotations from the sitter. The session ends in the Victorian and Early Twentieth Century galleries, looking at key portraits including Emmeline Pankhurst.

• 90 minutes
• Maximum 30 students
• Follow-up webquest: KS3 History Votes for Women

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Cross Curricular History/Art

Tudor Symbolism and Propaganda

Learning how to decode messages in Tudor portraits, students look at Tudor portraiture from the point of view of both sitter and artist to consider how these images were created and for what purposes.

This session can include either an art or history activity:

• Art Activity - Using viewfinders to draw details in colour
• History Activity - Who are the most significant Tudor sitters and why?

• 90 minutes
• Maximum 30 students
• Follow-up webquest: KS3 Elizabeth I's New Portrait

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Cross Curricular Citizenship/Art

Gay Icons

A Lecture Theatre Talk on the themes, selectors and key photographs of this unique temporary exhibition, with an optional gallery tour of the works in the Collection linking to issues of identity and representation. This presentation will also discuss mood, form, process, content and context of selected works.  Classes can experience this charged exhibition with a visit following the talk.

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Contemporary Britain: Diversity in Art and Society

Starting with a discussion of three or four contemporary portraits of sitters who have made or are making a significant contribution to British life and culture, this session explores two angles: the artistic issues associated with their portrayal and assessing the sitters as representative or not of contemporary Britain. Students work in small groups to question if contemporary displays are sufficiently diverse in their representation of culture, age, gender and disability to represent Britain today

This session can include either an art or citizenship activity:

• Art Activity - Explore and consider diversity of media, sketching one example of each of 4 different types of media
• Citizenship Activity - Students suggest improvements to make the current display of contemporary sitters more diverse

• 90 minutes
• Maximum 30 students

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Cross Curricular English/History/Art

Writers and Artists in Context

Placing British writers or artists in the context of their times through the medium of their portraits, this KS3 session makes links between significant people from different walks of life living at the same time. The focus can be on the Age of Shakespeare, the Romantics, the early Victorians, or the mid-twentieth century. Please specify when booking

This session can include an art or an English/history activity

• Art activity - drawing any portrait discussed in the session
• History/English activity - place one individual discussed in the session within a mind map of the period

• Maximum 30 students
• 90 minutes