General Reference

• The Holy Bible. The Douay-Rheims is recommended as it most closely approximates the Latin Vulgate Bible used during most of the Middle Ages. The Douay-Rheims Bible also contains the Old Testament apocryphal books missing in the modern Protestant Bibles. Numerous stories depicted in art derive from the Apocrypha. BS180.C4
  
  
• Grove Art Online A standard, continuously updated reference source, searchable by concepts as well as by artists' names. The bibliographies are current and a worthwhile starting point for further research.
  
  
• The Dictionary of Art Historians: A handy index of biographical and methodological information about scholars of western art history. See for exsmple, the entries on Edwin Panofsky, Ernst Gombrich, and Adam von Bartsch. Unrestricted access.
  
  
• Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism: One of the standard reference works in the field, this guide offers articles on theorists such as Walter Benjamin and Michel Foucault. Entries on Cultural Studies and Art Theory provide useful overviews.
  
  
• The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church New York : Robert Appleton Co, 1907-1914. This encyclopedia represents the"pre-Vatican II" Catholic Church's view. It is useful for attitudes toward ritual, use of symbolism, women, etc. 16 vols. BX841.C36 The New Catholic Encyclopedia (2003), is also available: BX841.N44 2003 first floor reading room.
  
  
• See also the library's general guide to finding reference books and selected online art and architecture dictionaries.

Biographical Dictionaries and Early Works

• Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon Bio-Bibliographischer Index nach Berufen. München: K.G. Saur, 2002-2003. A work in progress; to date 13 vols. have been published. N40.A7 2002 4th floor reading room.
  
  
• Bellori, Giovan Pietro. The Lives of the Modern Painters, Sculptors and Architects, translated by Alice Sedgwick Wohl. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005. N6756 .B4413 2005
  Biographies of 15 artists (many of whom he knew personally); a fundamental source of seventeenth-century Italian art and artistic theory.
  
  
• Benezit, Emmanuel.Dictionary of Artists. Paris: Gründ, 2006. 14 vols. N40.B4713 2006 4th floor reading room.
  A standard biographical reference source, now available in English. Includes biographies of many lesser-known artists.
  
  
• Thieme Ulrich, and Felix Becker, Allgemeines Lexicon der bildenden Kunstler. Leipzig: E.A. Seemann, 1907-50. A comprehensive, and highly-regarded biographical dictionary in 37 volumes. Signed articles, extensive bibliographies; few 20th-century artists. N40.T4 Copies in bookstacks and reading room 1.
  
  
• World Biographical Information System Online (WBIS Online) A comprehensive biographical database providing short biographical information on 3.6 million persons with a historical coverage. Digital facsimile articles from more than 2,300 reference works are also included for 1.3 persons. This is the online version of the K.G. Saur's Biographical Archives. Expect to find major artists, but minor artists are less likely to be found.
  

The Multi-Library Catalogs-- Know What Else is Out There!

No library has everything. A thorough search on your topic will likely require that look for material held in other libraries. The multi-library catalogs contain millions of book and journal records from libraries all over the world. WorldCat has records for university, college and most US public libraries, and the RLG Union Catalog includes many of the same research universities, plus the British Library, the New York Public Library, and most of the major museum library collections (the Getty, MOMA, National Gallery, etc.). The University of Chicago contributes records to both catalogs. Use the Find it! button in either database to request a title you need through Interlibrary Loan.

Finding Scholarly Journal Articles in Art and Architecture

• Art Index Retrospective (1929-1984) and Art Abstracts (1984-present): A core resource for art research, indexing over 300 key journals.
  
  
• ArtBibliographies Modern (1974 -present). Best place to start for 20th-and 21st-century artists and movements; performance and multi-media art; and emerging trends in contemporary art
  
  
• Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals (1934-present). Includes architecture as well as interior design, city planning, archaeology and individual architects.
  
  
• Bibliography of the History of Art (1973-present). The largest of the art indexes, BHA emphasizes post-classical art and covers a significant number of European journals. A list of journals indexed is available here.
  
  The oldest art journal index, Repertoire d'art et d'archaeologie (Z5937.R42 4th floor reading room), began in 1910 and remains a useful research tool. Like BHA, the emphasis is on Western European art; few English-language sources are considered in the earliest years. Repertoire ceased publication in 1989; the part of the index covering the years 1973-1989 is included in the online BHA, but the print volumes should be consulted prior to 1973.
  
  
• Historical Abstracts (1967-present) Articles and book reviews in European history.
  
  
• Index of Christian Art:  Indexes works of art from early apostolic times to A.D. 1400, with an emphasis on art of the western world. Seventeen media are represented in the archive, including manuscripts, metalwork, sculpture, painting, and glass. Records include bibliography, references to reproductions and, in some cases, links to images.
  
  
• International Medieval Bibliography: Select "Enter Databases" to search. Indexes articles relating to the Middle Ages from 450-1500. Includes research on medieval history in archaeology, architecture, arts, canon law, the crusades, daily life, folk studies, historiography, language, literature, military history, music, philosophy, political thought, religion, and social history. Covers Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. Includes entries from periodicals, conference proceedings, essay collections and Festschriften. Corresponds to print and CD-ROM versions (Z6203.I6).
  
  

Image Databases

• Art Resource 90,000 stock fine art images available through the Grove Art Online website; click on "Art image collections," then "Art Resource" to search. Registration required.
  
  
• ARTstor Large, keyword-searchable image database containing a combination of standard, art-historical survey images, as well as specialized collections including those from the Illustrated Bartsch.
  
  
• Bridgeman Art Library Searchable database of 100,000 images from over 800 collections around the world. Available through the Grove Art Online website; click on "Art image collections," then "Bridgeman Art Library" to search.
  
  
• Camio High-quality images provided by museums throughout the North America.
  
  
• RLG Cultural Materials Digital versions of manuscripts and archival materials from library and museum collections.
  
  
• Saskia Image Collection: 30,000 images of paintings, sculpture and architecture from important collections including the Kunsthistorisches Museum, the Louvre, the Prado and the Uffizi, as well as archeological sites in Greece, Turkey, Italy and Egypt.
  

Research Tips

• Get help when you need it.
  
• Use the Find it! button to link from the article citation to the full text.
  
• Use our interlibrary loan service to get articles and books that we don't own. **Remember, articles can take as few as three days; books typically take 7 to 10 days, but can take much longer, depending on the time of year, and where the book is held.
• I am happy to answer your questions:

  Nancy Spiegel -- nspiegel@uchicago JRL 463, 702-5193