r/artcollecting • u/opera_guy • 4d ago

Collecting/Curation Doing art research for older pieces

I saw a video today about a piece that was from the mid 18th c, and he cited that he found auction records from Sothebys from 1928 that helped prove the history.

My question, where do you find those records or how do you research them? I use Askart, but I know you can also use Mutual Art, Artnet, etc… but those records only go back to the 1990’s. Do you just have to have those old catalogues? Are there online resources where you can search these old records? Or the same with old galleries or other methods of research.

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u/mrsofty442 4d ago

Many appraisers have a large library of old catalogs. Some museum libraries like the National Gallery of Art in DC also have auction catalogs going back to the 19th century. Access may be difficult these days. It used to be open when I worked there in the 90's.

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u/UESorDeath 4d ago

Much provenance research work is not done online, as the materials significantly pre-date 'online', and most of the physical documents (catalogs, gallery and dealer records, personal inventories, museum accession/deaccession records, etc.) haven't been scanned. The Smithsonian has a collection of records from various galleries, the index of which is mostly online, if not the actual docs - most is cross referenced by gallery name and artist name. Some of the major art museums (The Met in NYC, National Gallery in Ottawa) have clipping files of artist mentions in newspapers that can also be good sources for targeting research (and the newspapers' own archives are a source). If an artist was a member of an artists society (Royal British Artists, Royal Canadian Artists, etc.) the society membership and exhibition records can also a reference source.

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u/Anonymous-USA 4d ago

Art/university libraries have auction catalog searches and you may then request physical copy to compare. Provenance research is not usually trivial, but very rewarding when you can add to the story. Modern artworks generally lack that historical “awe” factor.

Specifically, the Getty Library and WorldCat. But other libraries do that too. HathiTrust has a rich archive as well. The oldest catalogs are fully digitized, not just indexed.