Related Guides
General Background Information
These sources provide basic information about topics in art and art history. They're sometimes also called "reference sources." You can use them to learn more about a topic, provide context in your paper, come up with search terms, or find other relevant sources.
- Oxford Art Online This link opens in a new windowOxford Art Online is the access point for Grove Art Online, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms, Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, and The Oxford Companion to Western Art.
- Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History - Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYCThe Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History presents a thematic, chronological, and geographical exploration of global art history through The Met collection. Authored by The Met’s experts, the digital publication is a reference, research, and teaching tool conceived for students and scholars of art history.
- AskART Academic This link opens in a new windowAskART Academic is a database of information about artists, including names, birth and death dates, state or local affiliation, fields in which artist worked, book and periodical references to artist, dealers and museums where works may be viewed, auction prices of works, and some biographical details.
- Berg Fashion Library This link opens in a new windowThe Berg Fashion Library includes the Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, an e-book collection, and an image database. This database covers all regions of the world with content from pre-history to the present.
- Brill's New Pauly This link opens in a new windowBrill’s New Pauly provides access to Brill’s New Pauly, an encyclopedia of the ancient world translated into English; Der Neue Pauly, the original German version; and Supplements I, Volumes 1-6 (in English) on chronologies; author/text dictionary; atlas; reception of myth, mythology, and classical literature; and scholarship.
Biographical Information
- American National Biography Online This link opens in a new windowBiographical dictionary of notable deceased Americans from all eras of American history. Includes illustrations and links to other web resources.
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography This link opens in a new windowThe Oxford Dictionary of National Biography is the national record of individuals who have shaped British history and culture, worldwide, from the Romans to the 21st century. Does not include living people or those recently deceased. Limited to one (1) concurrent user.
- Gale in Context: Biography This link opens in a new window
Biography In Context offers biographical information about historically significant figures as well as present-day newsmakers. It includes reference content alongside magazine and journal articles, primary sources, videos, audio podcasts, and images.
- Catalogues Raisonnes Database - IFAR: International Foundation for Art ResearchCatalogues raisonnés — scholarly compilations of an artist's body of work — are critical tools for researching the provenance and attribution of artwork. This tool includes two new electronic resources — a database of published catalogues raisonnés and one of catalogues in preparation.
Provenance and Auction Records
- Sotheby's Institute of Art Sales CataloguesA guide from Sotheby's Institute of Art sales catalogues in and outside of their collection.
- Getty Provenance IndexThe Getty Provenance Index® (GPI) provides access to archival inventories, sales catalogs, and dealer stock books.
- Getty Provenance Index - Additional DatabasesThe Getty Provenance Index: Additional Databases provides access to the Collectors Files, Payments to Artists, and Public Collections.
Iconography and Symbolism
Hutchinson Dictionary of Symbols In Art by ISBN: 9781859865590Publication Date: 2005-01-01A-Z dictionary of the religious and mythological themes and symbols that have influenced Western painting and sculpture.
Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography by ISBN: 1579580092Publication Date: 1998-04-01The Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography compares the uses of iconographic themes from mythology, the Bible and other sacred texts, literature, and popular culture in works of art through various periods, cultures, and genres.
