Video Description: The exhibition Paintings on Stone: Science and the Sacred 1530–1800 is the first systematic examination of this unique and little-studied artistic practice that could be found across Europe for almost 300 years. It all started with the Saint Louis Art Museum acquiring a small oval painting on lapis lazuli in the year 2000, and it lead to 15 years of research by Judith Mann, the museum’s Senior Curator for European Art to 1800. Hear directly from the curator as she guides you through the exhibit and provides historic and artistic perspective.

• For Discussion: Use the video as part of your art history study. Were students aware of such paintings before viewing the video? What is student response to the paintings? How do the paintings provide insight into the time they were painted and the place religion held in people’s lives?
• For Discussion: From the 01:55 mark to the 02:22 mark, the curator talks about one image painted on multiple surfaces. Have students discuss how they think a different surface might affect how they would create a painting and how a viewer might respond to a painting. The surfaces used for the painting in the video are stone, copper, canvas, and panel.
• Activity Idea: Have students paint on stone. What unique challenges are created by the surface? How do the students respond to them? See if it’s possible to use one or more of the stone types used by the artists of the time. Learn more about the now-closed exhibition, the history of painting on stone, the types of stone used, and the process of conserving such works at the website of the St. Louis Art Museum.
• Activity Idea: Use the video as part of an arts integration or cross curricular project combining visual arts and social studies/history. Have students research more about the importance of religion and religious paintings in the Renaissance as well as techniques developed by artists during that time. Have them create religious-themed paintings they believe reflect that time period and/or using techniques of the time period. For an arts integration project, evaluate student work in terms of appropriate visual arts and social studies/history standards.
• Activity Idea: Build on the 2nd discussion question above by having students paint the same picture on two or more surfaces. As part of their self-evaluation, have students reflect on how the different surfaces affected their work and the outcome of the painting to them and to other viewers.