Web Gallery of Art
This virtual museum and searchable database of European painting and sculpture of the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque periods, currently contains over 11,600 reproductions along with commentaries on the art and biographies of the artists.
Intended Audience: General Reading Level: Middle/High School Teacher Section: No Searchable: Yes

The Arts: Visual Art

  Curriculum Standard 4

Analyze the visual arts in relation to history and culture.

Proficiency Standards
By the end of grade four students will be able to:

• Know that the visual arts have both a history and a specific relationship to various cultures.

• Identify specific works of art in particular cultures, times, and places.
• Describe how history, culture, and visual arts influence each other.
• Create a work of art that reflects an understanding of how history or culture can influence visual art.

Proficiency Standards
By the end of grade eight students will be able to:

• Compare the characteristics of works of art representing various cultures, historical periods, and artists.

• Describe and place a variety of art objects by style and artist, and by historical and cultural contexts.
• Describe how a given work of art can be interpreted differently in various cultures and time.
• Analyze, describe, and demonstrate how factors of time and place influence visual characteristics that give meaning and value to a work of art.

• Differentiate among a variety of historical and cultural contexts in terms of characteristics and purposes of works of art.
• Analyze relationships among works of art in terms of history, aesthetics, and culture, using their observations to inform their own art making.
  
  

• Understand various critical models of interpreting works from several historical periods and cultures.
• Analyze common characteristics of visual arts evident across time and among cultural/ethnic groups to formulate analyses, evaluations, and interpretations of meaning.

  Curriculum Standard 5

Analyze, interpret and evaluate their own and others' artwork.

Proficiency Standards
By the end of grade four students will be able to:

• Identify various purposes for creating works of art.

• Describe how people’s experiences influence the development of specific art works
.
• Understand that people may respond in different and equally valid ways to specific art works.
• Describe their personal responses to specific works of art using visual art terminology.

Proficiency Standards
By the end of grade eight students will be able to:

• Compare multiple purposes for creating works of art.
• Analyze the meanings of contemporary and historic artworks.
• Evaluate the quality and effectiveness of their own and others' work by using specific criteria.

Proficiency Standards
By the end of grade twelve students will be able to:

• Research and analyze historic meaning and purpose in various works of art.
• Defend personal interpretations to better understand specific works of art.
• Reflect critically on various interpretations to better understand specific works of art.
• Analyze and interpret art works identifying relationships among form, context and purposes.