A BIRTHDAY IN AMSTERDAM

Author: Christine Pilling, PS 91 Queens

Lesson: After observing and discussing Rembrandt’s etching, View

Preview of Amsterdam, students are asked to create written responses integrating what they have learned, especially about the topic of commerce and trade in seventeenth-century Holland.

Standards: Discipline-Based Art Education

• Students will make connections and comparisons between present day trade and commerce and trade in seventeenth- century Amsterdam. (Art History)
• Students will make aesthetic responses to works of art and their own works by creating self-portraits in the style of Rembrandt. (Aesthetics, Art Production)
• Students will observe and discuss Rembrandt’s use of chiaroscuro in his self-portraits. (Art History)

Grades: Elementary Level

Subjects: Art History, Social Studies, Language Arts

Materials: light-colored construction paper, pastels, pencils, semantic map, reproductions of View of Amsterdam and various self-portraits,various maps

WWW: http://www.rembrandthuis.nl/content_index.php?new_taalkeuze=en

 

View of Amsterdam

Instruction

1. Introduce or review vocabulary words including:trade, export, import, commerce, chiaroscuro.

Refer students to the work View of Amsterdamand chiaroscuro evident in several examples of Rembrandt’s self-portraits.

2. Engage students by asking them to imagine it is 1640 and they are a child living in Amsterdam. Today is a special day because it is their birthday and their gift will be arriving via tall ship into the port of Amsterdam. They are to imagine they are standing on the edge of a bustling pier in anticipation of what is to come.

3. Teacher then refers to the etching, View of Amsterdam, and uses it to discuss industry and commerce of the 17^th Century. Review items that may have been imported into the Amsterdam area. Review information about the Dutch West India Company.

4. Teacher will then ask students to visualize living at this timeusing organizing questions including:

• What types of gifts would be given during this time?
• What type of gift might a child receive?
• What are some of the countries that imported goods into Amsterdam and how would these products arrive?
• How would canals be utilized to transfer goods to stores?
• Finally, ask students to think of a gift they would like to receive.
• How would being a rich or poor child affect this decision?

Teacher then presents a semantic map. Students follow this by developing their own responses and sharing these responses with the class. Students peer edit and revise their responses.

Extensions Utilizing the Rembrandt style, have students create a self-portrait of themselves as a child during the17^th century. Insure that details like clothing and hairstyles are authenticated by references to visuals of the 17^th century.They should place their birthday gift in the portrait with them as a symbol of their social standing during the time.

Relate the study of trade to other cultures.

Review how, throughout history, other cultures have exchanged goods, discussing such topics and monetary sources and the impact of trade on lifestyle.

Assessments Review the use of portraiture in the 17^th century. Have students explain why they chose a particular gift for them and provide opportunities to use world maps explaining how these gifts ultimately arrived in the port of Amsterdam.