A Rotation for the Upper Forms
As a family we have been doing picture study and music appreciation for about twenty years. As my youngest child approached the upper forms, I decided it would be nice to close out our homeschool with a historical progression of artists and composers from the High Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century. We are currently (January 2025) in Term 2 of Year 11. In retrospect, I think the progression has worked well, but I clearly put Velazquez in the wrong place. A few of the artists and composers are less well-known. I freely admit that personal preference played a part in the selection, and I wanted to make sure my son was able to deeply experience some of my favorite works of art and music. Here is the program we’re following:
| Term 1 | Term 2 | Term 3 | |
| Year 7 | Fra Angelico (1395–1455)
Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179) Palestrina (1525–1594) |
Jan Van Eyck (1390–1441)
Gabrieli (1532–1585) |
Velazquez (1559–1660)
Purcell (1659–1695) |
| Year 8 | Botticelli (1445–1510)
William Byrd (1542-1623) |
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)
J. S. Bach (1685-1750) |
Raphael (1483–1520)
Handel (1685-1759) |
| Year 9 | Titian (1488–1576)
Haydn (1732–1806) |
Michelangelo (1475–1564)
Holbein (1497–1543) Mozart (1756–1791) |
Rubens (1577–1640)
Beethoven (1770–1827) |
| Year 10 | Rembrandt (1606–1669)
Chopin (1810–1849) |
Vermeer (1632–1675)
Clara Schumann (1819–1896) |
Gainsborough (1727–1788)
Brahms (1833–1897) |
| Year 11 | Turner (1775–1851)
Constable (1776–1837) Dvořák (1841–1904) |
Whistler (1834–1903)
Grieg (1843–1907) |
Monet (1840–1926)
Debussy (1862–1918) |
| Year 12 | Waterhouse (1849–1917)
Ravel (1875–1937) |
Alessandro Franchi (1838–1914)
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875–1912) |
Mary Cassatt (1844–1926)
John Rutter (1945–) |