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Nature as Code

creating identity using nature symbolism

About this learning resource

Format: PDF

Portrait artists of the Tudor era used nature symbolism as a form of coded language between sitter and viewer to promote a specific public image.

This lesson pack examines the difference between public image and private identity. Students decode public image in Tudor-era portraits. They will then explore, through self-portraiture incorporating nature symbols, their personal sense of self and how that supports self esteem.

National Curriculum links

  • Use drawing, painting and sculpture to share ideas and imagination
  • Identify what we are good at, what we like and dislike
  • Recognise the ways in which we are the same and different to others

Learning Objectives

  • Understand what a portrait and a self-portrait are
  • Understand how nature symbols have been used by Tudor artists to convey public and private messages about the sitters
  • Explore identity and how this can be represented through artwork

Resource Information

Key Stage

  • SEND

Subjects

  • Art & Design
  • History of Art
  • PSHE

Topic

  • Tudors

Type

  • Lessons Plans

Palace

  • Tower of London
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Download short editable biographies of Elizabeth I's Tower of London Significant People for Key Stage 2, Key Stage 3, Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5. Use key facts, activities and historic sources to explore various people connected to Queen Elizabeth. 

Key Stage

  • Home Educators
  • KS2 (age 7-11)
  • KS3 (age 11-14)
  • KS4 (age 15-16)
  • KS5 (age 16+)

Subject

  • History

Topic

  • Tudors
  • Elizabethans
  • Crime & Punishment

Contains a visual story, document and Widgit symbol sheet.

Key Stage

  • SEND

Subject

  • History

Topic

  • Normans
  • Castles

What was it like moving to Tudor England?   Step back in time and uncover the journey of Catalina of Motril, an enslaved woman who moved to England with a famous queen.  

Key Stage

  • KS2 (age 7-11)
  • KS3 (age 11-14)
  • KS4 (age 15-16)
  • KS5 (age 16+)
  • Home Educators

Subject

  • History

Topic

  • Tudors
  • Diverse Histories