Research Guides: Art &amp; Art History: Encyclopedias & Reference

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Core Online Reference Sources

Oxford Art Online
Portal to several key art encyclopedias. Includes core reference sources such as Grove Art, Benezit Dictionary of Artists, and the Encyclopedia of Aesthetics.
Oxford Reference Online
Cross-searchable collection of Oxford reference sources including the Encyclopedia of Aesthetics and the Oxford Companion to Western Art.
Gale eBooks
Database of encyclopedia articles and other specialized reference resources from a variety of disciplines.
Reference Universe
Indexes the contents of print and electronic reference works. Good for names, events, keywords, and obscure terms.
Oxford Bibliographies Online
Resource guides and encyclopedia articles for a wide variety of subjects.

Encyclopedia of Aesthetics
Online Encyclopedia covering major ideas and concepts in Aesthetics.

Oxford Art Online
Can search artists' biographies from both Grove Art and Benezit Dictionary of Artists. Includes in-depth biographies, bibliographies in Grove and signatures, exhibit histories, and auction prices in Benezit.

Union List of Artist Names (ULAN)
Includes basic information as well as any alternate names and spellings.

Allgemeines Kunstlerlexikon by K.G. Saur
Call Number: N40 .A63 1992
ISBN: 359822740X
Most comprehensive listing of artist's biographies
Index to Artistic Biography by Patricia Havlice
Call Number: ArtRef - N40 .H38
ISBN: 0810805405
Publication Date: 1973
Indexes biographies of artists, letting you know what biographical compilations where many individual artist's biography appears.

American National Biography Online
Biographical profiles of people from all eras who have influenced and shaped American history and culture.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Standard biographical work on figures who have shaped British history and culture, worldwide, from the Romans to the 21st century.

ADB/NDB Gesamtregister
Combined online index to the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB) and Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB), standard biographical dictionaries on important personalities in German-speaking Europe from the Middle Ages on.
Biographical Dictionary of Italian People
The Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani is a biographical dictionary published by the Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, started in 1925 and not yet completed. It is planned to include about 40,000 biographies of distinguished Italians. The entries are signed by their authors and provide a rich bibliography.

Dictionnaire de Biographie Francaise
Call Number: Ref - CT143 .D5

Bibliographies

Bibliographies can quickly inform you about the literature of a topic and point out sources that may be otherwise difficult to find. Art bibliographies in books are shelved in the Art & Architecture collection in the Z's.

Oxford Bibliographies Online
Extensive bibliographies on subjects in art, religion, classics, the renaissance, and the reformation. Outlines the history of scholarship on these subjects pointing out foundational texts, developing areas, and historiography.
Oxford Art Online
The bibliographies in Oxford Art Online are extensive and frequently updated.

Major Corpora

Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum
Call Number: Art Ref - NK4640 .C6
Images and descriptions of classical vases organized by country and museum. This multi-volume ongoing corpus is shelved by itself near the Art & Architecture stacks.
Illustrated Bartsch by James N. Elesh
Call Number: Art Ref - NE90 .B213
ISBN: 089835000X
The Illustrated Bartsch (TIB) is an extensive compendium of European master prints and commentary. Based on the 24 volume list, Le Peintre-Graveur, composed by Count Adam von Bartsch in the eighteenth century, it has grown to many more volumes written by art historians. The Illustrated Bartsch consists of images of European master prints from around 1400 until the arrival of the Industrial Revolution, around 1850.
Hollstein etchings, engravings and woodcuts
Call Number: Art Ref - NE651 - NE670
Complete and extensive reproductions of German, Dutch, and Flemish prints created 1450-1700. Complete catalogues raisonnes of prints for major artists and designers.

Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi
Call Number: Art Ref - NK5308.C6
Detailed reference information of reproductions of medieval stained glass, organized by country and church.

Iconographies

Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography by Helene E. Roberts (Editor)
Call Number: N7560 .E53 1998
ISBN: 1579580092
Publication Date: 1998-04-01
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.
Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC)
Call Number: Art & Architecture--Reference N7760 .L49 1981
ISBN: 3760887511
Publication Date: 1981-01-01
Iconography of Christian Art by Gertrud Schiller
Call Number: Art & Architecture Reference - N7830 .S35132
Covers all major Christian scenes, giving extensive information about their meaning and the history and evolution of their depiction in art.