Name:
AS Level History F984 The Italian Renaissance c.1420-1550
Summer holiday work – preparation for beginning your AS course – please highlight what you have done and hand to
your teacher in the first lesson
In order to prepare for your AS courses starting after summer it is important that you do some ground work over the
vacation. Of the following tasks you are asked to complete all those in the core section; from the rest you may
choose a selection, leaving it quite open ended, allowing you to follow you enthusiasms. You will need to bring all
your work on the first lesson back and be prepared for a quiz to see what you’ve learnt and how well you’ve
prepared for the course.
Core tasks – you must complete all of these
1) Research and find out as much as you can about the geography of Italy: get hold of a map. Enlarge it, stick
colourful pictures on it (preferably ones that relate to the Renaissance) and annotate it. Key cities that you
should be looking for include Florence, Venice, Rome, Milan and Naples. Better still, you could paint or draw
your own very large map of Italy.
2) Research, so that you understand it, the nature of Christian belief. We are going to be looking at Renaissance
Art in which there is considerable religious symbolism, so try and read up a bit about Christianity and
Classical Pagan thought. This can be on quite a simple level at this stage, for example, some classical tales
about Gods, Goddesses and Heroes; for example, the story of the birth of Venus and where was she ‘born.’
Equally importantly, you need to know the story of Adam and Eve and an outline of the main events of the
Life of Christ. Remember, you cannot understand symbolism without knowledge.
3) Find out about important classical thinkers: Plato and Aristotle. These are very important. Write a short
paragraph/profile on each. The Stamford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy can help you with this, and is much
more reliable than Wikipedia!
Extension tasks – you must pick at least two from this list
1) Read as many introductory/general books as possible about Ancient Rome and the Middle Ages. Borrow old
KS3 materials about Medieval Life from school, family/friends, and the library. Try to build up a picture of
what life was like in the Medieval World. Find a map of the known world in the Middle Ages. The idea is to
look at and acknowledge life before the Renaissance so we can explore just the changes and continuities.
2)
Are you artistic? Choose your favourite classical myth and illustrate it using watercolour, gouache, tempera
or very thinly painted acrylic – not oil paint. I f you are stuck for ideas, do some googling: Orpheus and
Eurydice; Narcissus and Echo; Persephone and Hades; Demeter/Ceres; Aphrodite and Paris; Jason and the
Golden Fleece: – there are so many to choose from!
3) Visit the National Gallery in London – there are some wonderful works of Renaissance Art in the gallery –
look out especially for Holbein’s The Ambassadors. We will be visiting the Gallery as a class but it’s well
worth going on your own, should you find yourself in London.
4) Pick up a cheap copy of Machiavelli’s The Prince, it’s a very short but really thought-provoking read. See
what you can get out of it.
5) Create a timeline of Renaissance Popes, but start it a little before our period so that you can include the
Great Schism. Make a note of where the Popes are from and to which family they belong.