FAQ - How to Use
What are National Gallery of Art Online Editions?
National Gallery of Art Online Editions presents the most current, in-depth information on the Gallery’s collections by the world’s leading art historians along with rich capabilities for exploring that information. Formerly known as The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue, which was a printed series of authoritative catalogs on the Gallery’s permanent collections, Online Editions puts this same detailed information—and more —at the fingertips of the student, scholar, or anyone who would like to learn more about the treasures of the National Gallery of Art.
The National Gallery of Art Online Editions are integrated with the Gallery’s website to bring together the most complete information about each object in the Gallery’s permanent collection on a single page. Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century is the first National Gallery Online Edition. More are to come.
How do I….
· cite object or artist content?
In the gray Online Editions toolbar, click on the “Cite” button. A window will appear with a pre-formatted citation.
Note: Exhibition history, provenance, and bibliography are regularly updated as new research requires. A citation will provide you with a permanent URL for the entry text displayed the day you access it.
· Export?
In the gray Online Editions toolbar, click on the “Export” button. A drop-down window will appear with a PDF of the entry available for print or download.
· access earlier versions of an entry?
In the gray Online Editions toolbar, click on “Archived Version(s).” A drop-down menu will appear with versions of the object entry, including the current version. A permanent URL will always get you to a particular version of a published entry, biography, or the entire edition.
· compare images?
Within the entry text, comparative images will link to the Compare Image Viewer. Use the Compare Image Viewer to see primary and comparative images side-by-side for study; explore technical images using overlay and cross-fading.
· search within a catalog?
From the gray Online Editions toolbar, type a search term in the text box and click on “search.”
· return to the Online Editions home page?
Click on the gray Online Editions banner at the top of any page.
What is…
· included when an object entry or artist biography is printed?
An entry includes: artist, title, date, medium, dimensions, credit line, accession number, technical notes, provenance, exhibition history, entry text, footnotes, comparative images, and object bibliography.
A artist biography includes: name (and variations, if applicable), life dates, image of the artist (if one exists), biography text and footnotes, and a selected bibliography.
How often…
· are object entries and artist biographies updated or “versioned”?
If conservation changes our understanding of an object, research brings to light new information, or a new object is acquired, a curator may choose to release a revised version of an object entry or artist biography. The earlier versions will always be accessible via a permanent URL and all versions will be dated.
Note: Exhibition history, provenance, and bibliographies are regularly augmented with new information. A permanent URL is created for the revised entries and biographies on the day that they are versioned.
· are entire Editions updated or “versioned”?
Each curator will determine when it is appropriate to update the National Gallery of Art Online Editions for their collections. Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century will be “reversioned” every five years from 2014, the date of its initial publication.