Sites We Like

Museum Databases

• The Louvre’s Atlas database – Searchable database with information on works on display at the museum. Includes the image (medium-size), a brief description (in French), measurements, and good date information. The Louvre also has several other databases which are helpful for more in-depth research: The Prints and Drawings digital database, The LaFayette database of American Art (covering works in French national collections), and Joconde, which covers works in French national collections. Joconde has two sites: this is the other, and I’m not exactly how they do and don’t overlap.
• The Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Art Inventories Catalog – Ever wondered where a certain piece of artwork is located? How big it is? What it’s made of? This database contains over 335,000 records of artworks in public and private collections in the U.S. The focus is on paintings created prior to 1914, and on sculpture through current times, with especially robust records for outdoor sculptures.
• More to come….