English/Language Arts
Explore text features
Social Studies
Explore European History - Renaissance Art
Explore the role of race and religion in European history
Art
Explore Art Museum sites
Explore Art Materials
Research Skills
Explore slaves as artists
Explore text features
- It may seem intuitive, but many of our students do not understand the meaning or the parenthetical years after people’s names. Use this Minute to point out how Author Albee added the birth and death years to the Minute without having to add extra sentences. Take a look at the captions she included with the paintings. Find other examples of paintings and get students noticing that proper captioning of art usually includes its location (ownership) AND it’s size.
- This Minute is tailor-made for a conversation about point of view and voice. Have students use their imagination to expand on the incident Author Albee describes when Juan de Pareja paints in secret and throws himself at the feet of King Philip. Have some write in the voice of Velazquez, the owner, and others in the voice of Pareja, the slave. A third group could explore the voice of the King. Compare the results and prepare for some rich conversation.
Social Studies
Explore European History - Renaissance Art
- This Minute allows for you to talk with your students about the importance of art and artists during the Renaissance, as well as discussing the role of slavery in Europe during this period, and the connection to the slavery that eventually landed in the “New World”. Take a closer look. Create a map of art and artists in the Renaissance period. Are there other examples of slaves or slavery found in the art from this place and time?
Explore the role of race and religion in European history
- Author Albee lets us know that Juan de Pareja was a slave of mixed parentage and possibly a Muslim. Are these two ideas connected? Was he a slave by virtue of his race and/or religion, or was that fact coincidental? Have your students go hunting for the answers, and have them develop some good researchable questions of their own.
Art
Explore Art Museum sites
- Author Albee captions her painting letting you know who owns them. Check out the Metropolitan Museum Website for a picture of the painting that allows zooming in and looking at the details. If you click on the + next to More Images, you will also find “the Calling of St. Matthew” from the Museo del Prado with a closeup of the figure on the far left that Author Albee suggests is a self-portrait. The Museum experts agree!
Explore Art Materials
- Take a closer look at ground pigments, prepared brushes and stretched canvasses. Consider offering Roxie Munro’s Masterpiece Mix as an extension to this Minute about the tools of an artists and the importance of looking at art we love to inspire art we create.
Research Skills
Explore slaves as artists
- Have students take a look at Moses Williams, slave of famed American artist Charles Willson Peale. Have students explore the reasons for the similarities and differences between the artists. Can you find other instances of slaves who were artists in their own right? Why might this be a challenging task?
© Karen Sterling, 2017 - May be used for educational purposes without written permission