Renaissance & Baroque Research  

Joconde (a.k.a. Base Joconde) (OBIS) ▲

[France]: Ministre de la Culture et de la Communication.  [1999?] - .
From the Joconde main menu select Recherche avancée (listed directly above Accédez au catalogue)

Determining exactly what objects are owned by public museums is a perennial problem for art researchers; most museums display only a fraction of their collection, and museum catalogs – item by item lists of what museums own – are scattered and often incomplete.  The most complete source for this information are museum “object files” – file folders containing detailed information on each object in a museum’s collection.  Getting information from object files is difficult, requiring travel to the museum and gaining special permissions; thus usually only museum staff and scholars have had access until the advent of Joconde.  The database Joconde provides a unique solution to this problem: with Joconde one can search the combined object files of 140 French museums.  Joconde combines three previously distinct databases: one for the decorative and fine arts, one for archeology collections and one for ethnographic collections (both European and non-European).  Object records vary in length though most have typical museum catalog information (artist, medium, date, provenance, title, where exhibited and a bibliography of writings about the piece).

 [BQP 31Aug06]

Old Master Paintings in Britain: An Index of Continental Old Master Paintings Executed Before c. 1800 in Public Collections in the United Kingdom. 

Wright, Christopher.
Totowa, N.J.: Sotheby Parke Bernet Publications, c1976.
Art ND 450.W74 1976

This title lists artists and the museums that own their work.  It also includes citations to museum catalogs in which specific works are included.

["not in OBIS" -DF 3/9/11,MJ 4/16/09]

Paintings in German Museums: Catalogue of Exhibited Works and Depository Holdings (OBIS) 

(Gemälde in Deutschen Museen: Katalog der Ausgestellten und Depotgelagerten Werke)

By Hans F. Schweer
3rd rev. and expanded ed (2002)Art Reference     N 2210 .S27 2002  Bd. 1 - 10

The World's Master Paintings : From the Early Renaissance to the Present Day: A Comprehensive Listing of Works by 1,300 Painters and a Complete Guide to their Locations Worldwide. (OBIS)

Wright, Christopher. 
London; New York: Routledge, 1992.
Art Ref. ND 40 .W75 1992 vol.1&2               

This index is useful to establish locations of particular paintings and find works on particular subjects (by using the title index).  In addition, brief artist biographies and a few relevant bibliographic citations are provided. Don't be fooled by the subtitle--this double volume set is not international; only artists from Western Europe, the United States and Scandinavia are included, along with the locations of their works all over the world.  Vol. I has an index of painters and a substantial section devoted to Painters and Paintings, arranged chronologically and subdivided by country.  Vol. II has a section devoted to locations of works and institutions and an index of titles. Though Wright compiled a comprehensive listing, his short biographies tend to be highly opinionated, often with qualitative judgments about the artist's relevance or skill enmeshed with factual biographical information; caution is advised.       

[MJR 04/09/02]