LibGuides: Architecture & History of Art: History of Art

Opening Times

Monday-Friday

9.30am-5.30pm

Please contact us in advance if you wish to consult rare items or dissertations.

Due to annual leave/ sickness we may need to close at short notice. Please check by email before travelling to Cambridge.

check for updates

Contact Us

library@aha.cam.ac.uk

(01223) 332953

@ahalibcam

ahalibrary

Lending Policy

undergraduates

5 books

postgraduates & academics

10 books

Fines*

overnight

£1/item/day

recalled

£1/item/day

Student Info. Corner

This corner is dedicated to providing you with information on various procedures across the university, whether you are looking to intermit, query exam results, or have been unwell and want to check your fitness to study. Each particular will take you through to related webpages. We also keep hard copies of each in the library for you to consult.

Undergraduates

Thinking of intermitting?

Want to review your exam results?

Worried you're not fit to study?

Postgraduates

Not well and thinking of intermitting?

Worried you're not fit to study?

Want to review your exam results?

Want to know the procedure for supervisions?

Concerned about plagiarism?

General

Student complaints

Students' Union Advice Service

Extension of submission dates

Student Complaints following COVID-19 during 2020-21

Undergraduate Handbook 2021-2022

The Artstor Digital Library provides access to 2.5+ million images of the world’s cultural heritage, all rights-cleared for use in education. The 280+ collections feature visual media from leading museums, photo archives, scholars, and artists.	This is a scholarly art encyclopedia. You can search for thousands of articles and images by movements, locations, and periods. The subscription includes access to the Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, The Oxford Companion to Western Art, and The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms.
This database cross searches over 12,000 journal titles. It focuses on scholarly literature on Western Art.	Articles written and reviewed by academic experts on key subjects in art history, with recommendations for further reading.
Delve into art and architectural history in a new way. . . . The A&AePortal (www.aaeportal.com) is an authoritative eBook resource that features important works of scholarship in the history of art, architecture, decorative arts, photography, and design. With innovative functionality and extensive metadata, the site includes many out-of-print titles, key backlist, and recent releases from some of the world’s finest academic and museum publishers. Watch the trailer or review the brochure to learn more about this exciting new resource.	Bloomsbury International Encyclopedia of Surrealism is an exclusive digital resource presenting the first comprehensive and systematic overview of one of the most influential and enduring 20th-century art movements, from its beginnings to the present day. Featuring a 3-volume major reference work, interactive timeline and rare archive images, portraits and artworks, this resource will be invaluable for academics and students in Art History/Theory, French Studies, Film Studies, Literary Studies, Photography and Visual Culture as well as Design/Fashion, Cultural History and Social/Cultural/Political Theory.

Cambridge Libraries

University Library

Fitzwilliam Museum Reference Library (book an appointment - normal hours of business are Tuesday to Friday, 10.00-13.00 and 14.00-16.30)

Hamilton Kerr Institute (book an appointment - usually available Monday and Thursday. Some items can be sent for consultation at the Fitz)

College libraries (we recommend you email the library beforehand) e.g. Pembroke College Tom Rosenthal collection

London Libraries

National Art Library at the V&A: https://www.vam.ac.uk/info/national-art-library

The British Library: http://www.bl.uk/

Warburg Institute Library: http://warburg.sas.ac.uk/library/

Courtauld Institute Library: https://courtauld.ac.uk/study/resources/book-library

Tate Library: http://www.tate.org.uk/research/library

National Portrait Gallery Library: http://www.npg.org.uk/research/archive/library.php

National Gallery Library: https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/research/research-centre/library

Library of the Society of Antiquaries of London: http://www.sal.org.uk/library/

Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art Library: https://www.paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk/archives-and-library/library-collections

RIBA Library: https://www.architecture.com/about/riba-library-and-collections

Libraries Worldwide

Library Collections & Photo Archives

Arachne Object database of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) and the Archaeological Institute of the University of Cologne.
Includes iDAI.images/Arachne.
Archivio Storico Istituto Luce Photographs and film footage documenting events and a changing society in C20th Italy, from L.U.C.E. (L'Unione Cinematografica Educativa, founded in 1924).
Art and Architecture (Courtauld Institute, London) Originating with the Courtauld Institute’s multiple image archives, provides access to more than 40,000 images, plus a network of over half a million links.
British Cartoon Archive (Templeman Library, University of Kent, Canterbury) The BCA holds the artwork for more than 150,000 British editorial, socio-political, and pocket, comic strips, newspaper cuttings, books and magazines.
Corsair (Morgan Library, New York) Access to 15,000+ digitized images from the Morgan's collection of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts. Users may page through every illustrated leaf within a manuscript, or search for individual images by place or date of creation, artist's name, illustration type, and subject.
Country Life Picture Library Images of country houses and gardens, interiors and architectural details, historic buildings and churches from the photo-archive of Country Life magazine. All images reference the original Country Life articles for which they were commissioned.
Enluminures (Ministère de la Culture and Institut de recherche d'histoire des textes, CNRS, Paris) 120 000 images from 5,000+ medieval manuscripts held by French municipal libraries.
Fondazione Zeri -- Fototeca (University of Bologna) Access to the photographic collection (ca. 200,000 images) assembled by art historian and connoisseur Fererico Zeri. The photographs document mainly Italian art, not only located in Italy but also elsewhere.
Frick Digital Image Archive (Frick Art Reference Library, New York) 15,000 images of works of art photographed between 1922 and 1967 in private homes and small public collections throughout the US.
Gothic Ivories Project (Courtauld Institute, London) Database of ivory sculptures made in Western Europe ca. 1200-ca. 1530, plus neo-Gothic ivory pieces. Objects & images come from a variety of institutions worldwide.
Gallica Bibliothèque Nationale de France Documents and images from the Bibliothèque Nationale.
Hoover Institution Political Poster Database (Stanford University) Images of the Hoover Institution’s posters collection assembled from around the world. Most of the posters convey a clearly political message, but others (e.g. those promoting tourism) are also included.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC, Washington, DC) Catalogue records and digital images of still pictures held by the Library’s Prints & Photographs Division and, in some cases, other units. Includes photographs, fine and popular prints and drawings, posters, and architectural and engineering drawings. While international in scope, the collections are particularly rich in materials produced in, or documenting the history of, the United State and its inhabitants.
Life Photo Archive Images from the archive of Life magazine. Major areas covered: People, Places, Events, Sports and Culture.
National Gallery of Art Library's online catalogue (Washington, DC)
NYPL’s Digital Gallery 700,000+ images digitized from New York Public Library's vast collections; includes illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, photographs, etc.
Photographic Portraits of American Artists (Smithsonian Institution, US) 4,700 photographs of artists working in the United States during the first three quarters of the twentieth century. Created by the fine art photography firm Peter A. Juley & Son (active 1896-1975). Includes portraits of individual artists as well as group photos taken at the National Academy of Design, the Art Students League and at various artists’ colonies.
Terremoto A publication dedicated to contemporary art and critical thinking in the Americas. The goal of this magazine is to question the Eurocentric paradigms in art, and to rethink society through the prism of artistic practice and critical research in the Global South.
VADS (Visual Arts Data Service) Union collection of UK-based image collections (although not all the objects are British). Contributing collections include libraries, museums and archives. Periods covered: Medieval – Modern.
Wellcome Images Thousands of images from the Wellcome Trust's collections. Subjects covered range from history of science and medicine, social history to magic and alchemy. Includes many Western art paintings and prints; and some Sanscrit manuscripts, Buddhist paintings and Persian books.

Museum & Art Gallery Collections

Getty Open Content Images
Getty Search Gateway > The Getty Search Gateway allows users to search across several of the Getty repositories, including collections databases, library catalogs, collection inventories, and archival finding aids.
Google Art Project Extremely high-resolution images of selected works in major museums worldwide.
Joconde Union catalogue (including images) of the collections of France’s national museums,
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) 400,000 digitised images from the Met. Museum's vast collections, made available through Open Access for Scholarly Content and identifiable by the OASC logo (not all MMA images are available as OASC items). For further information seehttp ://www.metmuseum.org/research/image-resources/frequently-asked-questions.
Mudira (MUnich DIgital Research Archives Joint digitisation project of the Institute of Egyptology and Coptology at Ludwig Maximilian University Munich (LMU) and the Munich State Museum of Egyptian Art.
Art UK (Public Catalogue Foundation & BBC) Digitised images of UK public collections of oil paintings, ranging from large national art galleries to small local museums.
National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC) 20,000 open-access digital images from the NGA's collections.
Museo del Prado (Madrid, Spain) The Prado's online paintings catalogue.
Online catalogue
Rijksstudio (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam) 125,000 high-resolution images of works in the Rijksmuseum.
Victoria & Albert Museum One million+ records for items held in the V&A collections. Some records have minimal information; others are very detailed. Some have high quality photographs; some have more basic images; others have yet to be photographed.
The Wilson Cheltenham Art Gallery Image database of the Wilson's collections on the Arts & Crafts, the Fine Arts, & Archaeology.

Other Image Collections

accessCeramics Images of ceramics made by contemporary artists worldwide.
Arts on Film Archive On-line access to films on art produced in the United Kingdom since the 1950s. Includes films about individual artists as well as more general topics.
British Printed Images to 1700 (Birkbeck College & King's College, University of London) Images of prints and book illustrations from early modern British publishing.
David Rumsey Historical Map Collection Focuses primarily on cartography of the Americas from the 18th and 19th centuries, but maps of other parts of the world are also in this database. Formats include atlases, globes, school geographies, books, maritime charts, and a variety of separate maps, including pocket, wall, children's and manuscript items.
The Gallery of Lost Art (Tate Gallery, London) Stories behind the disappearance of works of art -- destroyed, stolen, rejected, erased, ephemal. Note: This is now an archived site.
Imaging the Bible in Wales Images and information about C19th & C20th bibliocal scenes, characters & subjects.
National Trust Collections (UK) Images from buildings, objects, etc. in the National Trust's care.

Image-Sharing Collectives

Flickr Commons Access to many of the world's public photography archives. Participants include the National Galleries of Scotland, the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, and New York Public Library.
Wikimedia Commons Media file repository making available public domain and freely-licensed educational media content. Includes images, and sound and video clips.

Recent Acquisitions

Email us

Contact:

The Library

Faculty of Architecture & HIstory of Art

Cambridge University

1-5 Scroope Terrace

Cambridge

CB2 1PX

Tel.: (01223) 332953

Email: library@aha.cam.ac.uk

Use iDiscover to search for print and online books, journals, articles and online databases. If you only want to check what is available in one library then use the location filter. You can also access your library account on iDiscover to check and renew your loans.

Resources for My Subject

Architecture & History of Art: History of Art

Library Collections & Photo Archives

Museum & Art Gallery Collections

Other Image Collections

Image-Sharing Collectives