The National Gallery Collection is a searchable catalog of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. This catalog comprises 100,000 entries providing collection information on objects owned by the National Gallery of Art. Included are over 4,700 images and over 10,600 related image details of works held by the Gallery. Information for the database is compiled from research conducted for systematic catalogs published by the National Gallery, documents from the curatorial files, and new research conducted on objects recently received.
The database, like the Gallery collection, covers all aspects of art from the Middle Ages to the present, most especially painting, sculpture, drawing and the decorative arts. The records include details on all items in the permanent collection; most records include a bibliography on the object, a detailed exhibition history, a biography of the artist, and the provenance (ownership) of the object. If relevant, records may also contain information on the conservation of the work of art or inscriptions found on the item. Also included are biographies of former owners of the objects and related persons of interest. A nice aspect of this Web site is the inclusion of images that can be enlarged to the full screen. Most illustrated records have this feature, a nice touch that allows students and researchers to focus more closely on details in the objects.
The site has an attractive, easy to use design. Frames allow for easy navigation through the site. Searching is allowed by keyword within the title as well as by artist’s last name, creation date, subject, and accession number. Of particular interest is the option to search by media, school, and style. Boolean operators are not allowed, and truncation is automatic. Examples of searches are provided liberally throughout the site, and the help files are specific and easy to understand. The liberal amount of search options makes it easy to create a very focused search. The Gallery offers users the option of browsing by artist name as well as by school or medium, and online “tours” provide an easy way to explore the collection by period, style, or medium.
Links on the page are well maintained. I liked the fact that it is possible to enjoy the vast majority of the site with no plug‐ins. Adobe Acrobat Reader, Real Audio, and Live Picture Viewer are required to access some parts of the site, but plug‐ins are used only when needed to enhance the presentation of the content.
The content of this database does not significantly overlap that of other resources. The information in the database can be found in various print catalogs of the National Gallery; but no single print catalog is as comprehensive in scope as this, and there is no other Internet‐accessible catalog of the National Gallery available. Compared to other image databases on the Internet, this site is strong in terms of its search engine and organization, making it much easier to navigate than other databases.
Also, the integration of an image database with a catalog ‐ particularly one with information on provenance and exhibition history ‐ makes this a particularly strong collection database. These details are extremely valuable for researchers interested in tracing the history of the works contained in the catalog. For example, in the entry on the painting A Friendly Call by William Merritt Chase, I learned that art collector Chester Dale bequeathed this painting to the National Gallery of Art. I also learned of conservation efforts made by the Gallery to preserve this painting.
In all, undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and other researchers in the fine arts will find this site a tremendous benefit. Highly recommended.
