Brabyns is once again participating in the annual schools ’Take One Picture’ project; in collaboration with The National Gallery, London.
The Project
What is ‘Take One Picture’?
“Take One Picture is our national programme for primary schools, which aims to inspire a lifelong love of art and learning. Every year, we take one picture from the collection to inspire cross-curricular work in primary classrooms.” The National Gallery.
The image this year is ‘‘The Courtyard of a House in Delft 1658’ by Pieter de Hooch. The children (through from Nursery, up to Year 6) will be sharing ideas based on what they would like to learn from the picture. Aspects of the work such as the buildings, people featured, location, country & culture, work and job significance and the monetary value of the painting itself will be discussed and woven into lessons across the curriculum. The magic of this project is that the children have a real ownership of their learning and are able to steer this in any direction they please!
The Image
‘The Courtyard of a House in Delft;’ by Pieter de Hooch
We are invited into a quiet space: the serene courtyard of a red-brick house in the 17th-century Dutch city of Delft. Mild spring breezes rustle the trees, birds chirp overhead and footsteps can almost be heard on the brick-covered floor, together with the soft chatter of a little girl speaking to a maid.
Pieter de Hooch has carefully constructed the scene to make us feel as though we are there too. Our view is the same as that of someone standing in the courtyard – we could almost reach out and pick up the abandoned broom.
The artist offers us a glimpse into an ordinary day and ordinary lives. However, the scene is an imagined one. Despite its fiction, this little world offers an insight into Dutch life in the 1600s, a time of prosperity and change for a small and relatively new nation.
The Exhibition
We are thrilled to invite parents, friends and family to an exhibition showcasing the children’s wonderful work on this project.
This will take place in the school hall on Monday 17 June 24 – 3:30-5:30pm
