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History: Art

Documentary art online

ARTstor - A vast digital library of art images with descriptive information as well as software tools to enable active use of the collections. ARTstor includes approximately 300,000 images covering art, architecture and archeology.

ARTstor shared shelf commons - This is ARTstor's open access image site...no log-in required.Discover images from libraries, archives, and museums around the world.

Gallica - Free access to 70,000 digitized works, more than 80,000 images and many audio resources from the Middle Ages to the beginning of the 20th c.

Getty Trust Open Content - Find selected digitized materials from the collection that are free to view and download. Materials include over 2.5 million digital images of rare and public domain books, photographs, prints, manuscripts, sketchbooks, and archives.

Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History - A chronological and geographic presentation of the world history of art. Links to objects of art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Joconde : Catalogue des collections des musées de France - A catalogue of works of art in French galleries.

Library and Archives Canada Flickr photosets - Thousands of documentary images from Canada's national collection.

Library of Congress prints & photographs - Provides access through group or item records to about 65% of the Prints and Photographs Division's holdings, as well as to some images found in other units of the Library of Congress. Many of the catalog records are accompanied by digital images--about one million digital images in all.

New York Public Library Digital Gallery - Access to over 300,000 images digitized from primary sources and printed rarities in the collections of The New York Public Library, including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints and photographs, illustrated books, printed ephemera, and more.

Portrait Gallery of Canada - Library and Archives Canada developed the National Portrait Collection based on works amassed since the 1880s, with the goal of documenting historical personalities important to Canada's development.

Web gallery of art - High quality images online from the Baroque to the Renaissance periods (16th - 17th centuries).

Documentary art in Ottawa

Ottawa has many collections of historical and documentary art. Visit a local collection to see for yourself:

National Gallery of Canada's Canadian art collection is the place to start. Arranged by period from early to later, this gallery contains works by the many renowned Canadian artists.

Library and Archives Canada has a collection of 425,000 pieces of art, including paintings, drawings, watercolours, posters, prints, medals and caricatures, documenting Canada's history. The Documentary art online research tool (although no longer updated) will help you to locate specific pieces of art. ***Please note that ArchiviaNet is now an archived website.

Canadian War Museum has a nice collection of Canadian war propaganda documenting WWII. It also has a collection of WWI posters. There is also a gallery in the museum where many beautiful paintings in the War Art collection are displayed.