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Useful Links

Some websites to help you in your research. If you know of other resources, please keep us informed.

ONLINE MUSEUM CATALOGUES

France

Joconde Online Catalogue of the Musées de France.
This site contains information, but not necessarily images.

Paris, Musée du Louvre: Atlas database.
If you are searching for objects currently on exhibition.

Ireland

Limerick, The Hunt Museum

Spain

Madrid, Fundación Lázaro Galdiano

United Kingdom

London, The British Museum

London, Victoria and Albert Museum

Norwich, Norwich Castle Museum

United States

Baltimore, The Walters Art Museum

Boston, Museum of Fine Arts

Cambridge (Mass.), Harvard University, Fogg Art Museum

Chicago, The Art Institute

New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Rochester, Memorial Art Gallery

ONLINE PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVES

Belgium

Brussels, Koninklijk Instituut voor het Kunstpatrimonium/ Institut royal du Patrimoine artistique (KIK/IRPA)
IRPA/KIK is a federal scientific institution dedicated to the study, conservation and development of Belgium's cultural heritage. A number of images of Gothic ivories, with a special focus on Belgian collections.

France

Paris, Médiathèque de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine
The mission of the Médiathèque de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine is to collect, study, inventory, conserve and put at the disposal of the public the resources of the Direction générale des patrimoines.
Its origin goes back to the birth of the historical monuments service. In practical terms, it means that it keeps documents related to any classified building (archives, plans, photographs, books and periodicals). But it is also the repository of a number of photographic archives important to the history of art, in particular the Koechlin photographic archive.
It also records the 'patrimoine mobilier', i.e. classified objects (as opposed to buildings): if you are looking for an image of or information about an art work kept in a cathedral treasury or parish church in France, the Médiathèque is where you should start.
The Médiathèque has developed various databases which are well worth exploring. Of particular relevance to us are:

Paris, Photo Agency of the Réunion des Musées Nationaux (RMN)
This site provides 440 000 photographs of works of art collected in the national and regional museums of France, including numerous ivories. It also contains a number of images of objects in museums outside France, such as the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

Germany

Marburg, Bildarchiv Foto Marburg
Bildarchiv Foto Marburg is the German documentation center for art history. The archive contains around 1.7 million images, including Gothic ivories, especially in German collections.

OTHER ONLINE RESOURCES

The French Sculpture Census, result of a partnership between The University of Texas at Dallas, The Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, The National Institute of Art History (INHA), The Musée d'Orsay, the Musée Rodin and the Ecole du Louvre in Paris.
This census of French Sculpture in American Public Collections (1500-1960) reveals for the first time the breadth and richness of this body of works.

The Index of Christian Art (Princeton University)
The Index is an online database which contains a large number of ivory pieces from the Byzantine and Romanesque periods as well as Gothic pieces, with very detailed descriptions. Access to the Index is available by subscription, for more details, see here.

International Center of Ivory Studies (University of Mainz)
Specialising in scientific analysis of ivory as a material.

Last updated: 5 February 2015.

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Please remember to acknowledge any use of the site in publications and lectures as: 'Gothic Ivories Project at The Courtauld Institute of Art, London, www.gothicivories.courtauld.ac.uk', followed by the date you accessed the site.