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Art History: Start Your Research

Starting art historical research

When you're starting research, getting a broad view of related topics can be helpful. The resources below are just some that might be useful for art historical research.

The Concise Dictionary of Art Terms
Call Number: Available Online!

Dictionary of Art Historians
A biographical and methodological database intended as a beginning point to learning the background of major art historians of western art history.

Encyclopedia of Aesthetics
Call Number: Available online!
Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography
Call Number: REF N 7560 .E53 1998
The Grove Encyclopedia of Materials and Techniques in Art
Call Number: Available online!

The Met's Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
This website combines essays, timelines, and works of art from The Met to explore art movements and global cultures through time.

Oxford Art Online (Oxford) This link opens in a new window
This resource allows you to search the encyclopedic entries of the Grove Dictionary of Art for artists, movements, places, mediums, and more. It also links out to entries in several other Oxford art reference books. Please note our subscription only includes Grove and not the Benezit Dictionary of Artists.

The Oxford Companion to Western Art
Call Number: Available online!

Tate Art Terms
This art term glossary was created and is maintained by Tate, a major museum collection in the UK.
Writing About Art
A short guide to writing about art covering visual and stylistic description and iconographic analysis.