The Project
The National Inventory Research Project is the outcome of the work of a committee of museum curators. Representing national and local museums across the UK and led by the National Gallery, London, the project’s steering committee wished to tackle two issues: the recent decline in collection research within museums, recognised by publications such as Anne Gunn’s Lifting the Veil: Research and Scholarship in UK Museums and Universities (Museum and Galleries Commission, 2000) and Renaissance in the Regions: a new vision for England’s museums (Museums Libraries and Archives Council, 2001); and the lack of easily accessible information about what is in museum collections. Few museums have complete up-to-date catalogues of their picture collections.
Initial funding for the project was generously provided by the National Gallery, London. Substantial grants have been received from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Getty Foundation and the Kress Foundation. Additional research has been carried out through the Neil MacGregor Scholarships funded by the National Gallery Trust and by Pilgrim Trust research grants awarded to selected museums. The Pilgrim Trust also assisted with funding image research. NIRP is a partnership between the History of Art departments at Birkbeck, University of London, and the University of Glasgow, and the National Gallery, London. The project has employed some 25 researchers who have worked with curators in around 200 museums and other public collections across the UK. Without the support and co-operation of the museum sector the project would not have been possible. We believe it could be a model for future collaborations between national museums, regional museums and the academic world.
NIRP is also working closely with the Public Catalogue Foundation (PCF) a registered charity that is publishing illustrated regional catalogues of every oil painting in public ownership in the UK. The PCF is kindly allowing NIRP to make use of the digital images it has made; NIRP will be providing the PCF with up-to-date information on the pictures it has researched.
The Database
Data Fields
This detailed description of the project’s data fields will make your searches more productive.
Title: The established title of the paintings as recorded by, or agreed with, the museum.
Alternative title: other title(s) by which the painting is or has been known.
Original foreign language title: a title by which the painting was known when created, first exhibited etc., based on evidence.
Collection: the museum or organisation responsible for the painting. This may not be the building in which it is currently housed and does not imply that it is currently on display.
Artist: the artist or artists responsible for creating the painting. For many painting this may be uncertain or a matter of opinion. More than one artist may therefore be listed. This may reflect collaboration between two artists, one named artist copying the work of another, or a variety of current opinions as to the authorship of the work. Previous attributions, usually those in printed catalogues or other publications are also recorded
The terms used to qualify an attribution are defined as follows:
- Attributed to X: probably, but not generally accepted as, by X.
- Studio of X: by an unknown artist in the workshop or studio of X.
- Circle of X: by an artist working closely with and influenced by X.
- School of X: by an artist working in the style or manner of X, at the time or soon after; a follower of X.
- Imitator of X: by artist working deliberately in the style of X at any period.
- Manner of X: by an artist working in the style of X, at a later date
- After X: a copy of a known, or supposed, work by X, of any date.
Important: The spelling of artists’ names and biographical data is derived from the Getty’s Union List of Artists’ Names (ULAN). If you cannot find an artist on the NICE Paintings database you should check for the Getty’s spelling of the name on http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/vocabularies/ulan/.
Date: if the work is dated or a precise date is otherwise known.
Date earliest: the earliest date the work could have been made.
Date latest: the latest date the work could have been made.
Signed: if the work is signed by the artist.
Description: a brief description or summary of significant information about the painting.
Inscription: the location and exact form of all inscriptions on the front of the work and of inscriptions by the artist on the back of the work.
Subject: a list of keywords enabling a search for broad pictorial subjects. The keywords are:
- allegory
- animal
- buildings and gardens
- design
- everyday life
- figure
- history
- interior
- landscape
- literature
- marine
- military and war
- mythology
- place
- portrait
- religion
- still life
- townscape
- trade and industry
Some keywords, such as allegory, animal, history, literature, mythology, place, portrait and religion, may have details added in brackets, enabling more specific searches to be made. We intend to develop and add more detail to this feature at a later stage in the project.
Material: two sets of keywords for material and support are drawn from the Getty’s Art and Architecture Thesaurus. Details and qualifications (such as ‘laid on…’) are added in brackets where relevant. Material keywords are:
- encaustic paint
- oil
- tempera (casein paint, egg tempera, egg-oil tempera, gum tempera, oil tempera)
- gold
- graphite
- silver
- enamel
- unknown
Support keywords are:
- canvas
- cotton
- linen
- silk
- paper
- card
- pasteboard
- cardboard
- millboard (academy board, canvas board)
- panel (hardwood {cherry, chestnut, lime, mahogany, oak, poplar, pear wood etc});
- panel (softwood {pine, silver fir, spruce, etc.})
- plywood
- metal (copper, silver, zinc, etc)
- ivory
- vellum
- parchment
- terracotta,
- stone (slate, etc)
- glass
- unknown
Measurements: the maximum size of the support recorded to the nearest millimetre if possible. Height is followed by width. If the measurements are estimates, this is recorded. For diptychs and triptychs etc., these may be the maximum measurements of the ensemble, including frame. The Notes will make this clear if this is the case.
Current accession number: the unique identity number given to the painting by the museum. You are recommended to quote this number when making an enquiry to the museum collection.
Previous accession number: where identity numbers have changed because of recataloguing, etc., previous numbers may be recorded here.
Acquisition details: the way the museum acquired the painting.
Provenance: previous owners and transfers of ownership before the painting was acquired by the museum, in chronological order.
Principal exhibitions: significant exhibitions in which the paintings has been included.
Principal publications: significant publications in which the painting has been featured, including exhibition catalogues. These may include further information about the painting and its art historical context.
Notes: other information about the painting and its history. This can include labels and inscriptions on the back of the painting or its frame, discussion of related works and alternative attributions, information about the donor and previous owners, further reading and information sources.
