Title: Neoclassicism

Lesson plan elaborated by: Katarzyna Maciejak

Topic:

On the art of neoclassicism.

Target group:

2nd‑grade students of a high school.

Core curriculum

I. Literary and cultural education.

2. Receipt of cultural texts. Student:

5) recognises and characterizes the main styles in architecture and art; ZR

6) reads non‑literary cultural texts using the code proper in a given field of art;

III. Creating statements.

1. Elements of rhetoric. Student:

8) distinguishes the pragmatic and ethical dimension of promises made in advertising texts;

2. Speaking and writing. Student:

2) builds a statement in a conscious manner, with the knowledge of its language function, taking into account the purpose and the addressee, keeping the principles of rhetoric;

IV. Self‑study. Student:

1. develops the ability of independent work, inter alia, by preparing various forms of presenting their own position;

2. organises information into the problematic whole by valuing it; synthesizes the learned content around the problem, topic, issue and uses it in your statements;

3. uses scientific or popular science literature;

9. uses multimedia sources of information and makes their critical evaluation;

11. uses multimedia resources, eg from: libraries, on‑line dictionaries, e‑book publications, original websites; selects web sources, taking into account the criterion of material correctness and critically evaluates their content.

General aim of education

Students learn about the features of classical art and examples of its monuments in Poland

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Learning outcomes

Student:

• characterises classical and rococo art, referring to historical and literary knowledge;

• talks about the social and historical conditions of the artist's work, including the meaning of patronage;

• builds a written and oral statement taking into account the purpose and recipient;

• uses multimedia sources to present Polish monuments of classical art.

Methods/techniques

• expository

  • talk.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned;

  • leading text method.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

1. Look for any information about the Rococo in any source, and then write a short note about the features of this style, especially in painting.

Introduction

1. The teacher determines the aim of the class: the students will talk about the Enlightenment art.

2. The teacher who learns the criteria for success together with the students.

3. Discussing the content of the homework. Selected students present information about the rococo style in art.

Realization

1. Establishing the historical context of the era. The teacher writes on the board: half of the eighteenth century. Students create a mental map: they add information about historical events of the epoch and social background (should include the Great French Revolution, the Great Encyclopedia, the fall of absolute monarchy, etc.).

2. Students perform interactive task No. 1 - they match definitions to classical and classicistic concepts. Then they read a fragment of Johann Winckelmann's dissertation and write out postulates that laid the basis for the eighteenth‑century classicism.

3. Work in groups. The teacher divides the class into three teams. Everyone develops a gallery of neoclassical works (links given in the abstract). Based on Winckelmann's text and information prepared as part of homework, they are to prove that the works presented in the gallery belong to the neoclassical style. After the set time, the results of work of all groups are presented.

4. Students look at Canaletto's picture gallery and then search the internet for information about the author and his works.

5. Pupils, working in groups, develop a trip plan in the footsteps of Canaletto (using Google maps). Each group also creates a list of monuments worth watching and a text encouraging to take part in the walk.

6. At the end, students perform interactive task No. 7 - assign features to individual styles in art (neoclassicism and rococo).

Summary

1. The teacher asks the students summary questions, e.g.
   - What sources does the neoclassical trend in art have?
   - What was the rococo style?
   - Give the features of neoclassical architecture.

Homework

1. Watch online on the site of the Wilanów palace a film about Izabela Lubomirska, a fashion and art lover, and prove in writing that Izabela Czartoryska was a patron of art in enlightenment.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Neoclassicism

Search a source of your choice for information on rococo and make a short note concerning features of that style, especially in painting.

The new style derived from fascination with classical antiquity. Its formation in the middle of the 18th century was influenced both by major archeological discoveries in Rome, Pompei and Herculaneum and the Enlightenment ideas spread by French encyclopedists, preaching the postulates of moral and social mission of the art. It coincided with the period of deep social and political changes initiated by the Great French Revolution. The fall of the absolute monarchy and the change of the status of power from „the one vested in by the God” to the civic opened the age of modernity.

Johann Joachim Winckelmann (1717–1768) – German researcher of ancient art, coauthor and main theoretician of Neoclassicism, librarian and curator of collections of cardinals of Rome. Promoted knowledge on heritage objects discovered in Pompei and Herculaneum. Author of the first scientific study on ancient art entitled „Geschichte der Kunst des Alterthums” and published in 1764. Admirer of the Greek culture, father of history of art, who introduced the concept of style, and the method and language of the description of a piece of art.