Please note that I have been given AmblesideOnline’s permission to use their name in the title and body of this post, as well as their permission to use their Artist Study rotation to make these files.
When children have begun regular lessons (that is, as soon as they are six), this sort of study of pictures should not be left to chance, but they should take one artist after another, term by term, and study quietly some half-dozen reproductions of his work in the course of the term.
Charlotte Mason (Home Education, p. 308)
His education should furnish him with whole galleries of mental pictures, pictures by great artists old and new;––…–– in fact, every child should leave school with at least a couple of hundred pictures by great masters hanging permanently in the halls of his imagination, to say nothing of great buildings, sculpture, beauty of form and colour in things he sees. Perhaps we might secure at least a hundred lovely landscapes too,––sunsets, cloudscapes, starlight nights. At any rate he should go forth well furnished because imagination has the property of magical expansion, the more it holds the more it will hold.
Charlotte Mason (Towards a Philosophy of Education, p. 43)
The Charlotte Mason Picture Study method is a simple but great way to expose your children to fine art. By setting aside intentional time on a regular basis, specifically for art appreciation using this method, you are giving students the gift of developing relationships with pieces of art and introducing different artists to them who will become like old friends.
Picture Study (or picture talks) not only exposes them to great works of art that they will encounter in various ways throughout their lives, but it also develops your child’s sense of beauty, expands their powers of observation, exposes them to the ideas of great artists, and teaches them that art is for everyone! This method is extremely versatile and works well for all ages, including older students and younger children. (I have posts about why picture study is important and how to do it if you’d like to read more!)
Because I believe in the power and beauty of picture study and highly encourage this practice in every homeschool, not just those adhering to the Charlotte Mason method, I am happy to announce that the 2025-2026 AmblesideOnline Picture Study art print files are now ready and available as a free download!
Each free (and no strings attached) PDF file includes printable versions of six or seven paintings from a single artist, taken from the AmblesideOnline Artist Study rotation, which gives your student ample opportunity to become well acquainted with that artist’s work. This year, these artists include Camille Pissarro, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, and Albert Bierstadt.
As always, I attempted to find the highest resolution images I could on the internet, which sometimes proves to be problematic. I have also found that there is a delicate balance of providing high-quality images while maintaining a relatively small file size. If you do have questions about printing the files, I have a few tips and suggestions here for how to print your picture studies at home, have them printed at an office supply store, or purchase prints from an online supplier if that would be helpful.
Beneath each art piece is the title, the artist’s name, and the date it was painted, as well as permission to print it at your local copy shop for personal use. You can find the files and more resources for these artists, as well as others, including Claude Monet, Mary Cassatt, and Leonardo da Vinci, on the Picture Study Resources page or here:
Camille Pissarro
1830-1902
Danish/French – Impressionism
Jean-Honoré Fragonard
1732-1806
French – Rococo
Albert Bierstadt
1830-1902
German/American – Romanticism/Hudson River School
As with previous years, I will be offering one free Picture Study Aid with background information on the artist and the paintings included later this year, and that will be for Albert Bierstadt. I will post that here on the blog once it’s available (you can also sign up for my newsletter to be notified as well!). I am also offering printed Picture Study Aids and professional art prints for each artist (Camille Pissarro is here, and I hope to have the others in the next few months) in my shop, though these do not match the ones selected by AmblesideOnline.
If you have any questions, please let me know!
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