Art Masterpieces: Childhood Collection

The 16 art masterpieces in this collection feature engaging childhood scenes by artists such as Murillo, Renoir, and Cassatt. The Childhood Collection, composed of Art Prints and a Teaching Booklet, includes:

• High-quality prints of art masterpieces
• Paired poems for the student to memorize with each painting
• Detailed picture studies teaching:
  • Close observation skills
  • A deeper understanding of beauty, composition, color, and line
• Mini Masterpieces, including two matching activities:
  • Cut-and-paste activity with smaller copies of the featured paintings
  • A second painting by each featured artist teaching artistic style recognition
• A sample two-week schedule for completing the study in 32 weeks, two sessions per week

Why teach art appreciation?
The experience of beauty in art helps to form the mind and heart to pursue truth and goodness. As Prof. John Crosby has said, “the child who is raised to respond to the beautiful is thereby sensitized to all that is good and right and worthy.” Taking time to expose our children to great art gives them the opportunity “to contemplate the ray of beauty that strikes us to the quick, that almost ‘wounds’ us, and that invites us to rise toward God” (Benedict XVI).

Recommended for ages 6-8.