Charlotte Mason Picture Study - ahumbleplace.com

Do you wish there was a simple way to include art appreciation in your home education lesson time? These Charlotte Mason Picture Study Aids put all the resources you need for picture study at your fingertips! High quality art prints allow your student to take in great works of art without distraction and make them truly part of the halls of their imagination.

Why include fine art in your homeschool?

I believe that art is important (so much so that I graduated from college with a degree in art history!). Taking intentional time to study fine art hones a child’s sense of beauty, develops observation skills, and presents ideas in beautiful ways. It also introduces them to the work of great artists, allowing each of the pieces to become like old friends.

One of the things that drew me most to the Charlotte Mason method was her emphasis on exposing children to fine art. I loved the idea of simply showing students works of art from different artists in various time periods, like Leonardo da Vinci, Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, John Constable, and Jan van Eyck, and allowing them to absorb the pieces on their own. With Charlotte Mason’s approach, there were no convoluted explanations or in-depth analyses of the art. The children were simply meant to enjoy and take in each art piece.

About this topic, Ms. Mason said:

His education should furnish him with whole galleries of mental pictures, pictures by great artists old and new;––…–– in fact, every child should leave school with at least a couple of hundred pictures by great masters hanging permanently in the halls of his imagination, to say nothing of great buildings, sculpture, beauty of form and colour in things he sees. Perhaps we might secure at least a hundred lovely landscapes too,––sunsets, cloudscapes, starlight nights. At any rate he should go forth well furnished because imagination has the property of magical expansion, the more it holds the more it will hold.

 (Vol 6 pg 43 – emphasis mine)

Charlotte Mason picture study (sometimes called artist study or picture talks) truly is such a simple but powerful weekly practice that can be included in any homeschool routine. Spending one 15-minute lesson per week looking at, narrating, and discussing a work of art from a single artist allows your child to develop a relationship with that artist’s work.

When we first started homeschooling, during picture study, my students would inevitably have questions for me. Things like “Why is that there?” or “who is that?” or “what is that?” were very common.

In some cases, I knew the answer, or I could pull one of my old textbooks down from the shelf and look up the piece in question. In other cases, though, I didn’t have a ready answer.

Because of this, I started researching the pieces on my own before we looked at them for picture study. This really helped in our lesson time, and later, because I knew of other home educators who were running into the same problem, I wanted to share these resources! I have used them with older students, younger students, and even my fellow home educators, and they have been so helpful in allowing us to explore those pieces of art more in-depth.

Charlotte Mason Picture Study Aids

All Picture Study Aids are sorted by the century in which the artist lived.

Please note that for items marked “Sale,” the discount is only on specific variations of that item. Sale prices will be reflected when that specific variation is selected on the product page.

20th Century

19th Century

18th Century

17th Century

16th Century

15th Century

14th Century

13th Century

What is included in the Picture Study Aids?

  • An overview on Charlotte Mason picture study, including examples of what a picture study lesson looks like for different age groups.
  • A short biography or a story from their childhood, along with a picture of the artist and biographical information.
  • In some, I have also included related excerpts from texts, such as Mary Inne’s Schools of Painting, or from Parents’ Review articles.
  • Information on seven works of art from that particular artist, including a description of the painting and key discussion topics.
  • A link for additional resources, including art books, in the Living Art Book Archive.

For each Picture Study Aid, you have either a printed or a PDF option.

With the printed version, you get:

  • A high-quality, professionally printed book in full color. Some include a portrait of the artist at the end.
  • Seven high-quality art prints. I have carefully selected the paper weight, thickness, and finish to offer prints that are not only perfect for picture study, but also beautiful and durable.

With the PDF version, you get:

  • One download link for the PDF guide with all of the information listed above.
  • One download link for printable versions of the pieces covered in the guide.

Recent Reviews

And, in case you’re new to Charlotte Mason Picture Study in general, I have a few posts that will interest you:

Charlotte Mason Homeschool Picture Study

Why is Charlotte Mason picture study important?