Online Resources for the Study of Dutch Art History

This indispensable site contains resources, museums, exhibitions and curators all associated with Dutch and Flemish art throughout the world. A newsletter provides timely information about Dutch and Flemish exhibitions and events.

from the Frick website:

The Montias database, compiled by late Yale University Professor John Michael Montias, contains information from 1,280 inventories of goods (paintings, prints, sculpture, furniture, etc.) owned by people living in 17th century Amsterdam. Drawn from the Gemeentearchief (now known as the Stadsarchief), the actual dates of the inventories range from 1597-1681. Nearly half of the inventories were made by the Orphan Chamber for auction purposes, while almost as many were notarial death inventories for estate purposes. The remainder were bankruptcy inventories. The database includes detailed information on the 51,071 individual works of art listed in the inventories. Searches may be performed on specific artists, types of objects (painting, prints, drawings), subject matter etc. There is also extensive information on the owners, as well as on buyers and prices paid when the goods were actually in a sale. While not a complete record of all inventories in Amsterdam during this time period, the database contains a wealth of information that can elucidate patterns of buying, selling, inventorying and collecting art in Holland during the Dutch Golden Age.

The site holds a vast amount of information for both the newly initiated and the seasoned art historian. One of the most powerful functions is the lightening fast online search. Navigators need to use a single command to simultaneously search the website, the museum's collection, the web shop and the library catalogue, which contains more than 200,000 books and periodicals. For example, when you type in the word "Rembrandt", 364 collection objects, 23 web entries and 1,494 library entries show up.

This was made possible by linking up a number of different Rijksmuseum content databases: Adlib, the Collection Management System, ARIA and the library catalogue with over 200,000 books and periodicals. An increasing number of Rijksmuseum works will be made available online during the next few years. Do not forget the site's informative encyclopedia.

Encyclopedia

Search the Website
1. go to the home page http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/index.jsp?lang=en
2. open the right-hand panel 3. fill in the search box form (near the magnifying glass icon) with the term you wish to search and press enter

This online search function is extremely powerful. Users need only a single command to simultaneously search the website, the museum's collection, the web shop and the library catalogue, which contains more than 200,000 books and periodicals. For example, when you type in the word "Rembrandt", 364 collection objects, 23 web entries and 1494 library entries show up.

Search the entire museum's collection

Remember, you must first select the area of your research in the upper pulldowm menu where "kies zoekveld..." is written.

Online special The Masterpieces of the Golden Age

Copies of the Bulletin van het Rijksmuseum (Dutch only) can be downloaded from: http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/wetenschap/bulletin?lang=en

Online Library Catalogue

This guide is intended to provide accurate information about those scholarly libraries in the Netherlands that possess holdings that are of particular relevance for professional art-historical research. Thus it can direct researchers quickly to that or those institution(s) in the Netherlands that are best provided with the materials necessary for their work.

You travel but so does Vermeer. The Vermeer tracker keeps close tabs on the present location of every painting by Johannes Vermeer.

DutchESS, Dutch Electronic Subject Service, is a Dutch national subject gateway aimed at the academic community. Quality resources are selected and classified according to the Nederlandse Basisclassificatie (Dutch Basic Classification). The service used to be named after the classification scheme: NBW, Nederlands Basisclassificatie Web (Dutch Basic Classification Web), but was renamed when the restructured and improved version was released in August 1997.

thanks to Peter Barendse for having provided the information below

The historical society Delfia Batavorum was founded in 1935. Its main objective is to promote the knowledge of and the interest for the history of the city of Delft and its surroundings in the broadest sense of the word. The main activities of the society are organizing lectures about the history of Delft and organizing excursions to all kinds of sites and cities that are interesting from a historic point of view.

Delfia Batavorum also publishes an annual with articles on Delft's rich history. A list of published articles can be found by click on "jaarboeken" in the left-hand frame of the website.

Listed below is a summary of the articles related to Vermeer.

Het huwelijk van Jan Vermeer
(The marriage of Jan Vermeer)
by Drs. M.A. Lindenburg

Jan Vermeers huis: Een poging tot reconstructie
(Jan Vermeers house: An attempt to reconstruct it)
by A. Warffemius

Trekschuiten, haringbuizen en vrachtschepen op Vermeers Gezicht op Delft
(about the various ships depicted on Vermeers painting "Gezicht op Delft")
by K. Kaldenbach

Het ‘Straatje’ van Vermeer (The "Little street" of Vermeer)
by Drs. M.A. Lindenburg with an epilogue of Ir. W.F. Weve

In the website of the Digital Family Tree of the Municipal Records Office of the City of Delft you can search the indexes of the main sources that are keep for genealogical research:

Up to 1811: The registers of baptisms, marriages and funerals of churches and courts in Delft and Pijnacker.

From 1812: The registers of births, deaths and marriages of Delft and the former municipalities of Hof van Delft, Groeneveld, Hoog en Woud Harnasch, Pijnacker, ‘t Woudt, Vrijenban, Abtsregt, Ackersdijk en Vrouwenregt, Biesland and Ruiven.

The aim of the Emblem Project Utrecht project is the digitization of Dutch love emblems. In the future, the project hopes to present editions and indexes of about twenty-five emblem books, religious as well as profane.

Particularly interesting for Vermeer enthusiasts, is Sinne- en minnebeelden by Jacob Cats.

At this moment, nine books have been digitized. Each of these has a full transcription, page facsimiles, indexes, and links to sources and parallels, translations and annotation.

A 3D digital model of Vermeer's home which no longer exists. 150 different household inventory items and click on some can be clicked on.. Authors: Kees Kaldenbach (art historian), Allan Kuiper (industrial designer and Internet designer) , Henk Zantkuijl (restoration architect, emeritus assistant professor TU Delft. More than visited, this site must be explored, extremely interesting.

The Dutch University Institute for Art History in Florence, founded in 1958, forms part of Utrecht University and is administered by a group of six universities. The Institute promotes research on Italian art, on Dutch and Flemish art and artists in Italy and on the rich tradition of artistic exchange and mutual influence between Italy and the North. It provides scholars and students from the Netherlands and elsewhere with accommodation, research and publication opportunities and the use of its library in a city with extraordinary resources for art historical research and international academic training and exchange. In addition the Institute publishes scholarly works and organizes lectures, conferences and exhibitions.

The Web Gallery of Art is a virtual museum and searchable database of European painting and sculpture of the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque periods (1150-1800), currently containing over 11,600 reproductions. Commentaries on pictures, biographies of artists are available.

The Timeline of Art History is a chronological, geographical, and thematic exploration of the history of art from around the world, as illustrated especially by the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection. The Museum's curatorial, conservation, and education staff—the largest team of art experts anywhere in the world—research and write the Timeline, which is an invaluable reference and research tool for students, educators, scholars, and anyone interested in the study of art history and related subjects. First launched in 2000, the Timeline now extends from prehistory to 1800 A.D., and will continue to expand in scope and depth. The Timeline will span art history up to the present day by the fall of 2004.

A comprehensive index of every artist represented at hundreds of museum sites, image archives, and other
online resources. Currently indexed 1200 art sites.