Giotto di Bondone: Renaissance Man

Ahhh, Giotto. I've heard his name, but I've never actually seen his work before. He is known as the first great painter of the Renaissance. His figures were renown for their life.  In his Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, Giorgio Vasari told the story of Giotto as a mischievous apprentice painter who took advantage of his master's absence to paint a fly onto one of the master's paintings. The story claims that when his master returned and saw the fly, it was so life-like that he tried to brush it away.

For two hundred years before Giotto, images in Western art had been flat and stylized. His life-like figures were something new and exciting. Beyond just making his people look "real," he also infuses personality and emotion into them. I love the words of the art critic, John Ruskin. "He painted the Madonna and St. Joseph and the Christ, yes, by all means... but essentially Mamma, Papa and Baby."

Nativity from the Scrovegni Chapel, c. 1305

Isn't this fresco breathtaking? The way that Mary is looking at her new son... do you remember what those first glimpses of your babies felt like? He painted it so tenderly.

Although he was a painter, sculptor, and architect, Giotto is best-known for his frescoes. Perhaps his most famous work is on the Scrovegni Chapel. This small, unassuming, pink-brick building houses a glorious riot of color. 37 separate scenes chronicle the life of Mary, the life and death of Jesus, and personifications of Vices and Virtues. They culminate a wall-spanning image of the Last Judgement and are linked by a ceiling of stars. Just looking at photographs of the interior is stunning. I cannot imagine what it would be like to stand in the middle of it. Someday...

Giotto is scheduled during our second term. Normally I would take a break from the official fine arts schedule so that we could focus on Christmas in December. However, the scheduled images fit right into that theme. I found a beautiful book called The Glorious Impossible, written by Madeline L'Engle (yes, the same L'Engle who wrote the Wrinkle in Time series) and illustrated with frescoes from the Scrovegni Chapel. L'Engle's text tells the gospel story while the frescoes are reproduced on large, glossy, full-color pages. My own plan is to read through the book during our morning time and to study our prints as they match up to the story. I included a link to the book we're using, but proceed at your own risk. I have only flipped through the book—the images are gorgeous, but I haven't read the text yet, so I can't speak for the quality of the storytelling.

As always, we will follow the art recommendations from AmblesideOnline. Although our focus will be on the book, The Glorious Impossible, we will still post our regular prints in the dining room and the kids will still get their own art cards to add to their Books of Masterpieces.

Click here to download 8x10" prints
Click here to download 4x6" art cards

Normally I would include an image of the artist as part of our print set, but Giotto is a little different. With more than seven centuries between his life and ours, and no confirmed self-portraits, we don't exactly know what he looked like. We do, however, have some clues. One modern artist has tackled the mystery, and he has been kind enough to give me permission to share his work with you. Stay tuned...

An American Impressionist

I think most people are just settling into the groove of their summer vacations. At our house, however, our summer term of school will be starting up in just a few weeks. I'm not quite ready to let go of our vacation freedom, but I suppose that this isn't quite as tragic as it might seem. We don't do math or writing in the summer term, and most of our books are read in the car on our way to or from activities. It does mean that I have to get started on my planning for the year. This always feels like a slog at first, but the more I look through our material for the year, the more excited I get. AmblesideOnline is a fabulous curriculum, and I'm always excited at what I... uh, I mean the kids... will be learning.

First thing's first, it's time for new art prints. The fall term's artist is the American Impressionist, Mary Cassatt. While I foresee a few groans from the teen boys in co-op, my girly-girls are going to go nuts over her work. She is famous for her paintings of mothers and children. I find her portraits both tender and complicated - the moms look tired and overwhelmed as well as adoring and beautiful!

Download the 8 x 10" prints here
Download the 4 x 6" art cards here

Both sets of prints include a self-portrait. If you prefer not to use those, you can just delete that page from the file before you send it into the print shop. I take my files to Office Max, have them printed on glossy cardstock, and trim them to size. They always come out nicely. The new file hosting site seems to be easier for people to use, so I'll keep posting my prints there. Please let me know if there is any problems with downloading them. I'm not techy, but I'll do my best to help. Prints for the next two artist should be up within the next couple weeks.

Holbein the Younger and the Northern Renaissance

February is over, and another school term is upon us. I suppose that I ought to look forward to meeting a new artist, but I must admit the truth: I'm still grieving over having to say goodbye to Jacques Louis David. I find his paintings so compelling; they are a curious combination of thought-provoking and deeply emotional. We hang our prints in the dining room for the whole term, and I cannot keep my eye off David's paintings. I think my favorites of the ones we studies were Brutus and The Oath of the Horatii. I still can't decide whether I think they are passionate calls to patriotism, or skilled propaganda. Perhaps it's a little of both.

All that being said, time marches on and new art will be studied. This term, our artist is Hans Holbein the Younger. He was a German painter during the Renaissance. If you grew up thinking that the Renaissance happened only in Italy... well, so did I. Nope. We were wrong.

Germany was initially isolated from the changes that were stirring in Italy by the high Alps, which slowed the movement of people and ideas. The Northern Renaissance lagged nearly a century behind the familiar Italian changes, but it still brought forth a few important developments. A German named Johannes Gutenberg created a handy machine called the printing press. Martin Luther made waves in religious circles. The beautiful St. Michael's Church was constructed. Hans Holbein the Elder, Holbein's father, was pioneer in moving German art from the Gothic style into the new Renaissance style. In addition to a great many altar paintings, he also worked in woodcuts, illustrated books, and designed church windows. Other artists from the Northern Renaissance who might be familiar to you are Albrecht Dürer and Matthias Grünewald.

Interestingly enough, the German Renaissance was relatively short-lived, at least in terms of art. From the reading I'm doing, it looks like this was primarily because German had no Classical past to look back to. Italy was deeply tied to Roman culture—it's authors, artists, architects, and all it's contributions to Western civilization. Germany, on the other hand, didn't come into contact with Rome all that much. Lacking a personal connection, German artists simply didn't have the motivation that Mediterranean artists did.

Holbein the Younger is German, but he spent a lot of time outside of his native land. He traveled in Italy and France, and eventually settled in England. He is best known for his portraits. Humanist ideas combined with Protestant objections to religious art changed the content of paintings. When churches stopped commissioning art, portraits commissioned by well-heeled patrons became a necessity for artists who still needed to eat and buy paint. A study of human beings as fascinating individuals also fit into the philosophy of the time. Holbein's portraits focused on powerful, confident, well-educated men and women. His subjects included English royalty, ambassadors, merchants, churchman, author, and philosopher Sir Thomas More, as well as the famous scholar and philosopher Erasmus.

As always, my family uses the AmblesideOnline picture study rotation.  One of the things I love best about this rotation is that it exposes my kids (and me!) to many different styles and schools of art. While Durer's work didn't immediately appeal to me, I enjoyed reading and researching and placing him in his historical context. If you want to read further about the Northern Renaissance, check out this website. They also have a Timeline of Art that is helpful. It's not all that visually appealing (which is ironic, given that it's an art website), but there is a lot of fascinating information.

For our study of Holbein the Younger, I have created 8x10" prints that you can download here. If your kids keep a Book of Masterpieces, you can download 4x6" art cards here. I print all of our artwork on glossy cardstock. Both sets print on a standard-sized computer page, and will need to be trimmed to the desired size.

Several people have had problems with the old file hosting site I was using. This time, I am trying Dropbox. Please let me know what you think, so I know whether it is worth the trouble to switch my old files over to the new site. Thank you muchly.

Art Prints 2015-16 (Part I: the First Two Terms)

Ah, another year, another crop of artists. Over the past few years, art study has become one of my favorite subjects, and I'm really excited about this year's choices. As usual, we will be following the Ambleside Online schedule. I love the variety of artists, the AO leadership always picks great pictures, and it's fun to share resources with other people on the forum. We'll be studying two Frenchman this year, so I will be curious to hear the kids compare and contrast them.

In term 1, we start off with Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. Last week, the kids brought me the image of the day from their Metropolitan Art Calendar. (They do this anytime a day's art particularly catches their eyes.) I noticed that the painting was by Camille Corot and took the opportunity to tell them about their upcoming study. Although it was a small connection, it has them excited to see more of his paintings.

4x6 cards print three on a page

I have specific frames for our picture study, so these prints will print on a standard-sized computer paper, and they are intended to be trimmed down to an 8x10" size. I take my file to Office Max and have them printed on glossy cardstock. They always do a beautiful job, and their prices are the most reasonable in (our) town. You can download 8x10" prints here, including a self-portrait of Corot. We don't usually discuss the self-portrait; we just add it to our gallery so the kids can "meet" the painter.

In our house, all school-aged (or teacher-aged) people get their own Book of Masterpieces, with smaller copies of each of the pictures that person has studied. You can click here to download the 4x6" series.

 In Term 2 we'll study Jacques-Louis David. I don't know about the kids, but I am ridiculously excited about this artist. Two years ago, I took my kiddos to a large art museum to see the French exhibit. The girls were looking forward to seeing one of "their" Manets. We all enjoyed the exhibit quite a bit, but I was particularly captivated by this enormous painting of a Roman man and his grieving family. The look on his face, the tension in his fists and shoulders, the terrible grief of the women in the family... I stood there staring at it until the girls dragged me off. It was so captivating that I wrote down the title and artist, looked it up, and printed off a copy for myself when I came home. Then, a couple months ago, my oldest started Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans. In the life of Publicola, we read the story of Brutus, who condemned his own sons to death to save the Republic. I remembered the picture and pulled it up to show her. Then, lo and behold, when I looked up this year's artist, what do I see but that same captivating painting offered as a study option?! **insert happy dance here**

You can download the 8x10" prints here, including a self-portrait of David. We are going to study Brutus instead of The Coronation of Napoleon and Josephine, but I included both options in the print files. Delete whichever you don't want to study. You can download the 4x6" series here.

That's it so far. Stay tuned for term 3, when we will take a big jump in time and space...


Update: Several people have had problems downloading files from my previous file host. I have updated the links to Google Docs. If you download these files after 9/04/15, would you mind leaving me a comment letting me know whether your download was successful, or if you have any problems? Thanks ever so much!

Learn More, Know More, Love More

If you are subscribed to this blog and you received a rough draft in your inbox this morning, please accept my apologies. The Publish button is right next to the Save Draft button, and I was running out the door for a Dunkin Donuts date with my girls and a dear friend. If it did come to you, consider it a peek into the unedited workings of my mind. For whatever that's worth. ;)

Over the past two years, art study has become a huge source of joy in our home. I have already written here about how much we've learned. That's still true, and even more so as we explore new genres. What I didn't mentioned there is how much I've learned to love. Charlotte Mason was onto something important when she said, " “The question is not—how much does the youth know? when he has finished his education—but how much does he care? ... In fact, how large is the room in which he finds his feet set? and, therefore, how full is the life he has before him?”

There are so many subjects that I didn't know anything (or at least not very much) about, so I didn't care. Nothing moves your heart simply because it should. You have to get to know it before you can love it. After two years of picture study, I'm falling in love. I look forward to each new artist like a chance to get to know a new friend. (All the extroverts are nodding, and some of my dear introvert friends are shrinking back in horror at that image. Ahem, moving right along...) I haven't loved every painting, nor even every artist. I am, however, learning to love art. It's so much fun to see how each artist responds to what came before, how he changes it and makes it his own. Art is a window into the heart of the artist, and it's something special to be invited into that. Knowing more—loving more—makes my life, and the lives of my girls, broader and richer.

I have looked forward to this term's artist for a while: Edgar Degas. I have three daughters. My Teacup-age-10 started dance last fall, and she has found her "thing." I'm really excited about introducing to the master of Ballet paintings. As always, Ambleside Online has prepared a wide sampling of Degas' work, so we actually won't be focused specifically on his dancer portraits. Don't worry, though. I have plenty of extra goodies in the wings for my girls!

The Dance Class, Edgar Degas, 1875

Feel free to download these prints for your own use.* We have a new set of frames in our Art Gallery (AKA, the dining room), so these are now formatted as 8x10 prints. They still print on a letter-sized page, there is just more white space now. I trim the prints down to fit in our frames. As always, we get ours printed on glossy card stock at Office Max. They are reasonably priced and their quality is excellent.

Each of my girls has her own Book of Masterpieces, where she keeps her own 4x6" copy of every print she studies. The 4x6 art cards also print on a standard-sized computer page, three to a sheet. In addition to the assigned prints, I included a copy of one of Degas' self-portrait. Our curriculum recommends a different one, but this one makes me laugh. I don't really know anything about him, but I suspect that he had attitude.

Is Picture Study a part of your family's routine yet? I would love to hear your thoughts about you fit this important subject into your busy homeschool day. Are you excited to study Degas? What are you planning for this term?



*If you want to use these prints for your family or group's study, download them with my blessings. It should go without saying, but please don't copy the files and pass them off as your own work, don't sell the files, and don't sell the prints. Basically, the Golden Rule still applies!

Hudson River School Art Cards

Whew, I finally finished formatting all the art cards for the year. Term 3 of the Ambleside Artist schedule includes paintings by artist from The Hudson River School. I have never heard of any of them before now, but the paintings we are going to be studying this term are absolutely beautiful. I think they really capture the essence of the American Frontier ideal. I'm curious to see what my girls think of them. There are some rather large files here, because not only will be be studying some compilations, but there are also quite a few "extra interest" recommendations. I'm not sure how or if we will use them, but I am going to print everything. If I have it, I might decide to use it. If I don't have it ready, I know it won't get done!

As usual, click on the images to download the 4x6 photo file. These can be printed at any photo kiosk. To print three images per page, click the links to download a .pdf file. This option is great if you prefer to print at home or an office supply store.

First up are the assigned paintings. Download the three-on-a-page file here.

Here are the extra interest options. You can download the three-on-a-page file here.

Apparently Cole was quite fond of painting series illustrating cycles - notice both the Empire series and the Journey series. On a side note, I was ridiculously proud of myself when I recognized "Destruction" as the cover illustration on a book about the fall of the Roman empire. Yet again I have to admit that I am learning at least as much as my kids are from this homeschooling thing!

My husband grew up near Cotopaxi, Colorado. This is not that Cotopaxi, in case you are wondering. Apparently Church journeyed to the Andes to view the fabled volcano.

This is my own personal addition. I stumbled across it while searching for other art paintings, and I love it too much not to include it for my kiddos.

What do you think of this term's artwork? It's a big change from Manet in Term 2! Are you going to include the optional artwork? How do you plan on working it in?

Manet Art Cards

It's time for another round of art cards...

Edouard Manet is scheduled for Term 2 on the Ambleside Artist Rotation; however, the large art museum in our state is going to have a French exhibit from October to December which will include Renoir, Monet, and Manet. The kids are already enthusiastic about the Impressionist paintings we studied last year. I am going to move Manet to the first term, and I hope that they will recognize some old friends when we visit. I'm a little nervous about taking my Tempest into a real, official, art museum, but both of the older girls are quite excited. I just can't see leaving my Tempest-girl at home, even if she is a little wild and crazy. They are going to have at least one Renoir on display, and I must admit that I am pretty eager to see it in real life. No matter how beautiful, prints never do justice compared to the real thing. At any rate, if you hear a tragic tale about a Renoir painting, a small homeschool girl, and destructively flying hands and feet... that might just be us in the news. Pray for me!

I'm curious to see if Manet's paintings are going to become more attractive to me as we spend some time together. After spending the term with Renoir's warm, intimate portraits, Manet's work feels a little flat to me. That is my completely un-art-educated opinion, and I am very willing to change my mind.

These files are formatted for 4x6 prints. Right click the image and save it. If you prefer to print three cards on a standard-sized page, you can download the .pdf file here.

 

Click to download the .pdf

As we roll into the new year, I need to clean out all of last year's paperwork. That means that I have to decide what I am going to do with all of our beautiful art prints. I decided to keep them in a binder with the kids' Books of Masterpieces. Of course, that means that we need a snazzy binder cover. Here is the cover, if you would like to print it out for your own binder. At this point in time, our collection is not complete, because each of my girls absconded with their favorite Renoir print. I must admit, I'm not exactly complaining.

Do you keep a Book of Masterpieces? What do you do with your art prints after you are done studying them?

Making it Personal - the Book of Masterpieces

Teacup and Tempest really enjoy having their own Book of Masterpieces. I hype it as something very special, just for the students in the family. The Toddler can't wait to get her own when she starts school. After we study each full-sized painting, they each get an Art Card to add to their books. The books are on the open-access shelf where the kids can pull them down whenever they want to. As yet, they don't bring them down of their own initiative very often, but they do like to browse through all the pictures whenever we add a new one. I prefer to keep things simple, so we use a photo album that holds over 200 - 4x6" prints. By the time they graduate, each child's book will have all the pictures she has studied from kindergarten through 12th grade.


For the artist schedule we will be using, please visit Ambleside Art Study. In Term 1 we are scheduled to study John Singleton Copley, an American artist during the late Colonial/Revolutionary War period. After reading biographies of Washington and Franklin for months in Year 1, I am excited to spend some time with an artist from the same period. My card files are formatted as 4x6 photos. Right click on each image to save it, and then have it printed at any photo kiosk.* I like to have them printed on matte paper, which means I usually have to order online. If you prefer to print them three on a page, you can download that file here

I think my girls are going to be especially excited about this picture. One of their favorite books of all time is Saint George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges.

December is going to have a Christmas focus, so this will be our picture for that month.

Have you ever heard of Artist Trading Cards? I have heard people mention them, but they never registered in my mind before now. Apparently the only rule is that they must be 2.5 x 3 inches. On that miniature canvass, you can let your imagination run wild! This year, I am making some sets of ATCs for the kids with the art study paintings.

Download Page 1

Download Page 2

I printed three sets so they can use them for games. So far I have thought of Memory Match, Go Fish, and letting them use them like flashcards if they choose to challenge themselves or each other. (Please not that I will not be doing any kind of parent-led identification challenge with them, but if they choose to use them that way, I won't stop them. Ultimately, our goal is for the kids to develop a familiarity with and love for art - not for them to memorize a list of paintings or artists.) I'll be interested to see what else the kids come up with. What would you use them for? Do you have anything fun planned for this year's art studies?


*If you want to use these for your family or group's study, download them with my blessings. It should go without saying, but please don't copy the files and pass them off as your own work, don't sell the files, and don't sell the prints. Basically, the Golden Rule still applies!

Dutch Baroque Artist Study

Our first full term with the Ambleside Online curriculum is drawing to a close. I am so pleased with the way this term has gone, especially in terms of adding in hymn, composer, and picture studies. Seeing my girls get to know the works of Debussy and Renoir over the past 12 weeks has been such a pleasure. We have not done very much with our composer study other than listen to the music, but we have enthusiastically dived into picture study. It amazes me how much we have all learned. Hearing my children speak intelligently about lighting, color, mood, and brushstroke technique is a little mind-blowing! They even created their own version of Renoir's Girl with a Watering Can in sidewalk chalk.

  

  Aren't those toes the sweetest thing you've ever seen?

This term, we will be studying Pieter de Hooch and Jacob van Ruisdale. These Dutch Baroque painters both lived and painted in Delft, Holland in the mid- to late-1600s. As last term, I created full sheet prints and art cards for each of the works we will be studying. The kids are wild about their Master Works Album, where they store their own pictures of the paintings we study. I had the full sheets printed out at Office Max on glossy card stock, and they came out beautifully. The art cards can be downloaded as individual .jpg files just by right-clicking on the picture and copying it. You can also download a single sheet that contains all three art cards on one sheet, print them at home, and cut them to 4x6 size for your album.

Jacob van Ruisdale - have you ever seen clouds like that?! Living in Colorado, we know how to appreciate beautiful sky scenes. Click here to download the full-sized prints.

You can click here to download all three art cards on one page


Pieter de Hooch (whose name is apparently pronounced more like Huff or Hough. Who knew?) Click here to download the full-sized prints.

 

Click here to download all the de Hooch art cards on one page.


I know it sounds selfish, but one of the things I love about home schooling is how much I learn while I am researching and teaching my kids. I recently watched the 2003 movie Girl With a Pearl Earring, about Johannes Vermeer's masterpiece work.

Painted around 1665, Girl With a Pearl Earring has been called the Mona Lisa of the north.

Isn't she gorgeous?

While preparing a biography for de Hooch, I discovered that he is believed to have influenced Vermeer's style. Throughout the movie, I was on the alert for any mention of de Hooch! I think we are going to have to make room for this beautiful painting in our art rotation this term.

Since this post has gotten rather long-winded, I'll go ahead and wrap it up here. I hope you enjoy the downloads and make some use of them.

Cheers!