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RESEARCH LIBRARY AT HOME, GUIDE FOR STAFF MEMBERS: DIGITAL RESOURCES AND DATABASES

LICENSED DATABASES AND DIGITAL SOURCES

This page provides an overview of all the databases available trough our library. Certain databases and catalogues are licensed and are accessible exclusively through Azure Virtual Desktop (instructions on how to access Azure are located under the 'Library catalogue' tab on the left side of this page).

This guide differentiates between resources that are openly available through the Research Library and those websites that require the creation of an account at the respective institution for access.

Is there a database you can't find?

This guide's list of resources is not comprehensive. Should you notice a valuable digital resource or database is absent, kindly inform us by sending the database's web address to us by e-mail. We will gladly explore the options available.

RESOURCES WITH ACCESS TROUGH RESEARCH LIBRARY

  • Arkyves: A digital image database which offers approximately 100.000 images categorised by subject through Iconclass codes. It provides access to parts of the image collections from Dutch institutions such as the RKD, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, Museum Meermanno, Utrecht University and international institutions like Herzog August Bibliothek, Glasgow University Library, among others.
  • ARTSTOR: (No longer accessible from 1 August 2024. Images will be moved to JSTOR Workspace from February 2024) Digital image database containing about 1.5 million images with descriptions from general and specialised art and culture collections. 
  • Bridgeman images: Bridgeman Images compiles visual materials from diverse museums, galleries, and private collections, offering access to high-resolution images.
  • Europeana: Europeana Collections provides access to more than 50 million digitised items - books, music, art and more - from thousands of European archives, libraries and museums.
  • Het Geheugen/ The Memory: The Memory is an image database that features paintings, drawings, photographs, sculptures, ceramics, stamps, posters, and newspaper clippings from over a hundred Dutch museums, archives, and libraries. Please note that the database has not been updated with new collections since 2012.
  • Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Art: The Archives of American Art is the world’s pre-eminent and most widely used research center dedicated to collecting, preserving, and providing access to primary sources that document the history of the visual arts in America.
  • The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Publications As a vital part of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation’s mission as an educational institution, the Guggenheim Museum’s Publications Department publishes books and catalogues to document its exhibitions and collections.
  • Art Resources from the Mid-20th Century This collaborative project between the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art presents digitised highlights from the personal libraries of Hilla Rebay and Juliana Force, the museums’ respective inaugural directors.
  • The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Digital Collections Digitised publications from the Museum's Libraries and Archives, including the majority of publications from 1869-1993 and a growing number of later titles. Rare and important works held in the Thomas J. Watson Library and other curatorial department libraries at The Met. Digitised auction catalogues from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries, primarily from American and European auction houses.
  • Art Discovery Group Catalogue 

    An art-focused section within the OCLC WorldCat environment. Within this specialised section of Worldcat, art history literature from (art) libraries around the world can be searched.

  • Art Sales Catalogues Online (Lugt): Online catalogue based on the Répertoire des Catalogues de Ventes Publiques by Frits Lugt. It contains more than 100.000 digitised auction catalogues from 1600 to 1900 from libraries in Europe and the United States
  • Atlas of Mutual Heritage: The most complete overview documentation on the United East India Company (VOC) and the West India Company (WIC).
  • Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA, RILA): International bibliography in all areas of Western art history. It also includes RILA (Répertoire de la littérature de l'art, 1975-1989). The databases cover the period 1975 to 2007. For publications after 2007, see the International Bibliography of Art (IBA).
  • Rijksmuseum bibliotheekcatalogus

    Catalogue of the Rijksmuseum's library collection including information on digital resources such as databases and journals.

  • Nederlandse Centrale Catalogus

    The NCC contains the bibliographic data and finding places of over 14 million books and 500,000 periodicals found in more than 400 Dutch libraries. References to digital and digitised sources can also be found here. Also the basis for IBL applications.

  • International Foundation for Art Research (IFAR) 

    Includes two databases: 1) overview of published catalogues raisonnés and of 2) catalogues in progress.

  • Digitale Bibliografie Nederlandse Geschiedenis (DBNG) 

    An online bibliography on Dutch history from prehistory to the present.

  • Fotografiebibliotheek Online 

    Thematic virtual library of Dutch art libraries with important collections on photography (only works in Chrome browser).

  • Friedländer Database: This database contains all 4.107 records of Friedländer's Early Netherlandish Painting and can be considered the third, completed and digitised, edition of this important reference work.
  • Getty Provenance Index Sale Catalogs 

    Searches catalogues of 19th-century Belgian (1801-40), British (1801-35), Dutch (1801-20), French (1801-20), German (1670-1800) and Scandinavian (1670-1800) auctions. Covers paintings sold mainly at 19th-century auctions in Belgium (1801-40), Britain (1801-35), the Netherlands (1801-20), France (1801-20), Germany (1670-1800) and Scandinavia (1670-1800).

  • HathiTrust Digital Library: HathiTrust provides long-term preservation and access services to digitised content from a variety of sources, including Google, the Internet Archive, Microsoft, and in-house member institution initiatives. Items in the public domain are in full-view for everyone and items held in copyright are searchable. 

  • HPB database (Heritage of the Printed Book) 

    Catalogue of printed matter from the period of the manual printing press (c. 1455-c. 1830) taken from main European and North American research libraries.

  • Rembrandt Database: Research source for Rembrandt's paintings

  • RKD Research: An online research platform of the RKD - Netherlands Institute for Art History with data and resources on works of art and artists. Databases of the RKD are converted to Linked Open Data and freely available. Please note: additional services for subscribers (visual search function and the ability to view, compare and edit images in 'my workspace') are not available via Rijksmuseum.  
  • Delpher Digitised texts from Dutch newspapers, books and magazines that can be searched word for word.
  • Getty Research Portal 

    The Getty Research Portal is a free online search platform providing worldwide access to an extensive collection of digitised art history texts from a range of institutions. This catalog affords researchers the ability to search and download complete digital copies of publications devoted to art, architecture, material culture, and related fields.

  • Google Books A service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical character recognition (OCR), and stored in its digital database.
  • Google Scholar Freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in beta in November 2004, the Google Scholar index includes most peer-reviewed online academic journals and books, conference papers, theses and dissertations, preprints, abstracts, technical reports, and other scholarly literature, including court opinions and patents.
  • Internet Archive: The Internet Archive is een non-profit digitale bibliotheek van internetsites en culturele bronnen zoals boeken in digitale vorm. Publicaties die niet meer auteursrechtelijk beschermd zijn, kunnen worden gedownload.
  • HathiTrust Digital Library 

    HathiTrust provides long-term preservation and access services to digitised content from a variety of sources, including Google, the Internet Archive, Microsoft, and in-house member institution initiatives. Items in the public domain are in full-view for everyone and items held in copyright are searchable.

  • JSTOR: Online multidisciplinary archive containing full-text articles from 120 scientific journals at article level, plus recently monographs. Moving wall of 3 to 5 years versus most recent publications.

  • Art Sales Catalogues Online (Lugt): Online catalogue based on the Répertoire des Catalogues de Ventes Publiques by Frits Lugt. It contains more than 100.000 digitised auction catalogues from 1600 to 1900 from libraries in Europe and the United States.
  • Artnet.com : Price Database Decorative Art: Auction results from 2004 to date. Contains more than 240 international auction houses, including 130 auction houses in China. Images available. Results provide the full text of the auction catalogue.
  • Artprice.com: Contains more than 4 million auction results from 1700 to the present and covers more than 405.000 artists from the 4th century to today. Auction results of nearly 5 million auctioned objects are available online. Deals exclusively with fine art. Images available.
  • Grove Art Online: Based on the Dictionary of Art (1996, 34 vols.). Encyclopaedic information on visual and performing arts and archaeology. Annual additions and updates.
  • Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland (BWN): Academic reference work containing short biographies of persons who were significant in the Netherlands or its overseas territories in the late nineteenth century and in the twentieth century.

SOURCES WITH REGISTRATION OR MEMBERSHIP

  • Academia.edu 

    Social networking website for academics. The website allows its users to create a profile, upload their work, and select areas of interest. Then the user can browse the networks of people with similar interests and access shared content.

  • Internet Archive Open Library: The Internet Archive's Open Library allows free full-text access to a large selection of popular and academic titles. During the Corona Virus National Emergency or through June 30, 2020, which ever is later, they are permitting unlimited access to its vast e-book collection, with out waiting lists. Please note that you will need to create a free account.
  • Watermark Database: Project by the Dutch University Institute for Art History Florence. Indexes watermarks and paper used for prints and drawings all over the world for the years 1450 to 1800. Login as guest.