Essential Question
How did art reach its summit just as Europe began to sail beyond the horizon?
This week art reaches its summit in Rome, just as Europe begins to sail beyond the edge of the known world. The student studies the High Renaissance under papal patronage — Michelangelo's David and Sistine Chapel, Raphael's School of Athens, the new St. Peter's Basilica — and the perfection of sacred polyphony in Palestrina. At the same time, Portugal launches the Age of Exploration: Prince Henry the Navigator's schools, the rounding of Africa, and Vasco da Gama's voyage to India.
Liturgical note: Ordinary Time (February).
Threads at a Glance
The High Renaissance in Rome (the popes as patrons); Michelangelo and Raphael; the first European voyages (Portugal, Henry the Navigator, Vasco da Gama)
Second Great Awakening, abolition, Seneca Falls, Catholic immigration
Michelangelo Buonarroti
The Portuguese sea routes; the route around Africa to India and the Atlantic islands
High Renaissance — Michelangelo (David, the Sistine Chapel), Raphael (the School of Athens), the new St. Peter's Basilica
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and the perfection of sacred polyphony (and how the Council of Trent shaped it)
St. Philip Neri (the joyful 'Apostle of Rome')
Joy
YOUCAT — the moral law and the Ten Commandments (1-3): God, his name, the Lord's Day (Q348-Q365)
Punctuation III — quotation marks and writing dialogue
Narrative with dialogue — punctuating speech
Weekly Writing Assignment
Write a short narrative scene (a story) set in this week's world, built around a conversation. Choose one: Michelangelo arguing with Pope Julius II about the Sistine Chapel ceiling; a young sailor and an old one talking the night before Vasco da Gama rounds the Cape of Good Hope; or St. Philip Neri joking with a gloomy young man on the streets of Rome. Use at least six lines of dialogue, punctuated correctly. Set the scene with a little description, let the conversation carry the action, and give the scene a clear end.
The Week
Close the Week
Add each date to your running timeline notebook — one color for World History, another for US History.
Unit Reading · Renaissance, Exploration & Reformation
by E. L. Konigsburg
A witty, surprising novel that imagines the friendship between Leonardo da Vinci, his mischievous servant boy Salai, and the duchess Beatrice — and the mystery behind the Mona Lisa's smile.
by Robert Bolt
The acclaimed play about St. Thomas More, who would not betray his conscience even when the king demanded it — and paid with his life. A gripping portrait of integrity in the storm of the Reformation.
by Louis de Wohl
A sweeping novel of St. Francis Xavier, the friend of St. Ignatius who carried the Gospel across the seas to India and Japan during the Catholic Reformation. Adventure and holiness on a global stage.
by William Shakespeare
Shakespeare's most famous play: two teenagers from feuding families fall headlong in love, with tragic results. The classic introduction to Shakespeare for ninth graders, full of dazzling language about love, family, and rash choices. (Mature themes — young love and the lovers' suicides — make for rich discussion with a parent.)
by Miguel de Cervantes
An old gentleman reads so many tales of chivalry that he sets off to be a knight himself — tilting at windmills with his loyal squire Sancho Panza. The first modern novel: hilarious, tender, and wise. Best met in a good abridgment at this age. On the Cardinal Newman Society reading list.
by Elizabeth Borton de Treviño
The true-life story of Juan de Pareja, an enslaved man in the household of the great Spanish painter Velázquez, who secretly learns to paint and eventually wins his freedom and friendship. A quiet, beautiful novel about art, dignity, and faith. Listed on the Cardinal Newman Society reading list.