Free Rembrandt Study

{This is part of our 17th Century World History Curriculum.}

You do not have to be an artist or an art history major to teach about the masters! Let me tell you: I am neither. I still draw stick people, but with the right resources, my children have become quite talented in drawing, so painting is a natural extension of that ability.

All of the resources in this study are free. Can you believe I didn’t use any books for this lesson? We like to mix it up around here, so it’s strictly internet sources and hands-on fun.The only thing you will want to purchase are the basic art supplies: paints, brushes, and art paper. I picked all of mine up at WalMart, and spent less than $20. This study took only a week, and we studied it right after the Pilgrims, Puritans, and the first Thanksgiving.

Let’s Begin

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn was a Dutch painter who lived from 1606 to 1669. He was born in Leiden (the Netherlands), and lived there until adulthood. (If you’re studying this as part of World History, it’s interesting to note that the Pilgrims first escaped to Leiden from 1609-1620, so they might very well have met the young Rembrandt and his family.)

Young elementary-aged kids will enjoy this video as a fun intro:  Rembrandt: Art History for Kids on YouTube.

Since we combine all ages for our history lessons, we all gathered around to watch  The Great Artists – The Dutch Masters – Rembrandt (suitable for elementary and high school):

Here is a great link to a Gallery of Rembrandt’s Art.

After watching the above video, we watched this YouTube painting lesson and everyone painted a copy of one of Rembrandt’s self-portraits. I set my laptop up on the table and played 10-15 seconds at a time as the kids copied what they saw. This lesson took almost an hour with 6 kids.

While Rembrandt used oils, we used acrylics; they are easier to work with, less expensive, and clean up with soap and water. This lesson is fun because it’s lots of quick brush strokes, not detailed painting techniques. Hint: you’ll need plenty of brown paint!

 

Here are the results of their work (and the ages of each student):

 

 

Here are a few additional links that you may find helpful.

• Rembrandt: Art Lessons for Children at Hub Pages
• Art Masterpieces to Color: Aristotle Contemplating Bust of Homer (great coloring book to use throughout any history study)
• Liberty Hill House has a good lesson plan with an art lesson

At the library, I found a big book of Rembrandt’s paintings that we looked through together. After looking through this book,  the kids completed a notebooking page about Rembrandt to put in our history notebooks. We used these Free Artist Notebooking Pages from the Notebooking Fairy. They were inserted into the notebooks right before the paintings.

 

Lastly, we added Rembrandt to our history timeline.

 

See how easy art history can be? You don’t have to be an expert to share great artists with your children, and you might just inspire an art career in one of them!

To see how we study history without a curriculum, read my full explanation here.

Hi! I’m Nicki! Welcome to my blog! I live in Texas with my husband and five children, and a wild assortment of dog, cats, chickens, and ducks. I’m a second-generation homeschooler, a book lover, and history enthusiast. I gush about all of these things on this blog, and I hope to share the love with you! Be sure to follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Join my subscriber list for access to my FREE Download Library:

 
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