Anthony Van Dyck was an assistant to Rubens and court painter to the Prince and Princess of Orange in the Netherlands in the 17th Century. In 1632 he was invited to England and became the principal painter to King Charles I. One of his greatest works was Samson and Delilah (1616-1621). I was reading an article recently (in the Times Educational Supplement) by Gillian Wolfe, the head of education at Dulwich Picture Gallery in London, and she was talking about how to bring art alive and used Van Dyck's Samson and Delilah as an example. Incredibly this masterpiece was painted while he was still in his late teens and captures the dramatic high point in the story of Samson and Delilah. It depicts the moment when Samson's hair, the source of his great strength, is about to be cut off by the Philistines.

Gillian Wolfe recommends a variety of activities to help bring alive the work and it is clear from her writing that not only is she passionate about her subject (essential for great teaching) but she clearly understands that learning needs to be approached from a number of different angles. She doesn't use the term "Multiple Intelligences" but her suggestions imply that she has an understanding of them even if it may be subconscious.

I have briefly mentioned Multiple Intelligences elsewhere on the site (click here) but I want to give you a few suggestions on how you could apply them to gaining a greater appreciation of this painting. I have drawn on some of Gillian Wolfe's suggestions and have added a few of my own.

Linguistic

Write the story of Samson and Delilah in your own words.
Describe the scene depicted by the painting in exactly 100 words.
Write a poem about Samson's strength.
Write a newspaper article with a headline about Delilah's betrayal of Samson.
The picture depicts a dramatic moment in Samson's life – write about your own dramatic moment.
Samson is a hero. Compare and contrast Samson with a modern day fictional hero like Spider Man or Luke Skywalker.

Logical Mathematical

Experiment with different pigments to create the colours used in the painting – what mixtures have you used.
How many other paintings did Van Dyck paint?
Create a flow diagram of the sequences required to paint such a masterpiece.
Measure the painting and compare its size to other masterpieces – who painted the largest paintings?
How many people are depicted in the painting?

Visual Spatial

Paint your own version of the masterpiece.
Pick one of the characters from the painting and sketch them.
Draw the face of a model from different angles and in different head positions.
Using only a pencil, explore how light and dark can be depicted on a piece of paper by drawing simple shapes or objects.
Explore how a three dimensional object can be represented on a flat page.
Try and create the illusion of texture using different artist materials (oils, pencil, watercolour).

Musical

What pieces of classical music would convey the mood of this painting?
Is there a record in the charts that could describe the scene?
If you had to pick a pop star to represent each of the characters in the painting who would they be and which of their songs would be most appropriate?
Write a rap depicting the Samson and Delilah story.

Physical

The body language depicted in the picture expresses how each character is feeling and thinking. Practise communicating without words.
Using just your hands, communicate different emotions and feelings.
Play charades using some famous paintings and/or artists as the subject.
Using mime, tell the story of Samson and Delilah.

Inter-Personal

Talk about the painting in terms of the use of light and shade and describe the visual story being portrayed.
Hold a debate about the moral issues raised by the story of Samson and Delilah.
Discuss the role that each character plays in the scene.
Describe the scene to someone who has never seen the painting.
Discuss the use of symbolism.

Intra-Personal

Explore how you feel about the painting – what emotions are stirred up inside?
Imagine you are each of the characters and explore what you might be feeling and/or saying to yourself at that moment in the scene.
Compare and contrast yourself with both Samson and Delilah.
Explore how you feel about different types of art.

You may have some ideas of your own about how you can apply Multiple Intelligences to this painting to help bring it alive and make learning more fun and certainly more interesting. And of course you can apply this approach to just about any subject if you apply creativity and fun to your thinking. Why not let me know how you have used these ideas in your own learning or teaching?

Editor's Note: The Dulwich Picture Gallery, where the original of this painting is housed, offers special courses for children to learn about painting (see http://www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/cgi-bin/listevent.cgi?type=edu-schools), including visits designed for specific yeargroups from Year 1 upwards through secondary school, including (Year 3 and upwards) a "practical demonstration of how old masters made their paint from some very strange ingredients", the involvement of Maths in painting, private views for Teachers, and much more, as well as follow-up artist-led workshops at schools after Gallery visits.

The Gallery also offers "tours and practical sessions for children and young people with medical and physical disabilities" (including wheelchair use) and book-able disabled parking spaces, as well as special needs outreach to schools. All group tours of the Gallery need to be booked, to avoid over-crowding. As background, The Dulwich was England's first public art gallery and has been described by The Sunday Telegraph as "the most beautiful small art gallery in the world".

To ask about any aspect of Accelerated Learning, e-mail michael2008 (at) happychild.org.uk . Due to Michael's hectic schedule, he may not be able to write back, but will do his best to cover the main issues raised, in future articles [more about Michael on the page here].

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