Art: Primary Sources

"The development of French and English cartoons from the period 1841 until 1872 and from 1894 to 1914 allows for "European perspective" on important historical events that were significant and formative for the whole of Europe, such as the Revolution of 1848. the Franco-German War and the history of the First World War. In addition, the illustrations reflect the social changes of this time and the stylistic development of the cartoon." (Google translation of intro). This is part of the Arthistoricum website. It includes texts from France, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and Italy. To translate , when you're viewing the facsimile (digital image), switch to the OCR-Volltext view. (It's not a great translation, but you can at least get the gist) . Then, copy and paste into Google Translate.

"A one-page guide to navigate the quickly growing presence of avant-garde magazines online...In their day avant-garde magazines had been the closest to medium-specific publishing. Challenging the standardized procedures of the industry they tended to equalize the importance of writing, editing, illustrations, layout, typography, printing and distribution as mutually constitutive practices. The whole could become greater than the sum of its parts. Produced by makers many of whom were skilled in techniques of printing and mechanical reproduction these works are also fine examples of engaged publishing, a practice whose concerns extend from the content of pages to their ink and fiber."

"A digital thematic research collection of art, music and literary periodicals published between 1848, the year of the European Revolutions, and 1923 – a functional boundary for works presumed to be in the public domain."

"ArchiveGrid helps researchers looking for primary source materials held in archives, libraries, museums and historical societies."

To limit your results to archives, use Advanced Search, select Format > Archival Materials.

Some link to transcripts to interview of artists, some are simply a description of the interview.

The "Virtual Library for Art History." It's in German, but you can access the English version of the site by clicking on the British flag in the upper right corner.

From the Centre Pompidou. It's in French, but don't let that stop you. Use Chrome as your browser and, when it offers, have it translate the page. (It's not a great translation, but you can at least get the gist) .

The BnF offers commercial digitisation and print services of documents held in the library’s collections.

A highly regarded illuminated manuscript of the four gospels from medieval Ireland.

"Over the course of six centuries Cambridge University Library's collections have grown from a few dozen volumes into one of the world's great libraries, with an extraordinary accumulation of books, maps, manuscripts and journals. These cover every conceivable aspect of human endeavour, spanning most of the world's cultural traditions."

Online Sources for European History. Selected Transcriptions, Facsimiles and Translations. Browse by country or search.

Over 20,000,000 European cultural objects. Images include an icon indicating terms of use (varies).

Digital Collection of the French National Library. Includes digitized books, periodicals, images, maps and more. Some materials go back as far as the 11th century.

"HathiTrust is a partnership of academic & research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world."

A vast archive featuring the cultural and historical heritage of the Gulf and wider region. It includes archives, maps, manuscripts, sound recordings, photographs and much more, complete with contextualised explanatory notes and links, in both English and Arabic.

"All the surviving letters written and received by Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) are contained in this edition of his correspondence... It is intended for Van Gogh specialists, art historians and literary scholars studying Van Gogh’s letters or work, and students of art history, the history of literature and allied disciplines."

Fully Digitized Collections of artists' personal papers, e.g. correspondence, writings and notes, photos.

"A chronology of various attempts through the last four centuries to visually organise and make sense of colour. A wide variety of forms and methods are represented: from simple wheels to multi-layered pyramids, from scientific systems to those based on the hues of human emotion."