Ancient Painting

The Vase Room in the Sloane Art Library (ask at desk for room to be opened) houses the volumes of the Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum and the works of J.D Beazley: These will be one of your major resources for the study of vase painting, and must be used in the Vase room; they do not circulate. To search the online catalog for books on your subject, use the terms s=vase painting, greek for the most results. Search by painter name if you know it or by person represented, e.g. s=dionysus or object type as well, e.g. vases, red-figured. s=mythology classical in art is another tack. Try keyword searches in addition to subject searches. The following additional print, electronic and Internet resources will be important as well. The most important are highlighted.

General: Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, and Research Guides (in order of importance)

Grove Dictionary of Art Online (and print edition) for a useful overview with up-to-date bibliography of Greek and South Italian painters from the 7th to 3rd c. B.C. Vol. 32, "Vase Painters" pp. 26-77 in the print edition. In the on-line version you can search by "Vase painters" or by individual painters, such as Makron. Or, you might search for a motif, e.g. meander, or a figure, e.g. Achilles. There are image links as well. An outstanding resource for any area in the history of art, especially as the online version is frequently updated.

Guide to Research in Classical Art and Mythology (Art Reference) is a good starting point for those with little background in classical studies or art. [N7760 .V3 1991]

Oxford Classical Dictionary (and print edition) is exactly what it says; look here to identify people, places, literary works, etc. [DE5 .O9 1996]

Encyclopedia dell'Arte Antica Classica e Orientale (Art Reference) Don't be dissuaded by the Italian title! This major multivolume reference book is one I frequently use and you can too; even if you do not read Italian you can benefit from its images and bibliographies. For example, see entries for artists (e.g. Exekias), subjects (e.g. Ajax, see Aiace), types of objects, (e.g. lekythos) or topics (e.g. pittura or painting.) If you need help translating a Greek name into the Italian, please ask me! Foreign language dictionaries are also available on the Ready Reference shelves. [N31 .E48 2]

Classical Studies: a Guide to the Reference Literature (Davis Reference) [ PA91 .J46 1996]

Dictionary of Bibliographic Abbreviations found in the scholarship of classical studies… (Davis Reference) [ Z6945.A2 W44 1983]

Kunstlerlexikon der Antike (Art Reference) is a source for information on artists but even more importantly, for the bibliographical notes. [N5333.K84 2001]

Mythology and Classical Subjects

LIMC: Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (Art Reference) is a key resource for researching the subjects or iconography of Greek art. Multivolume, with plate and text volumes, entries are in a number of foreign languages, depending on the author. Even if you do not read the language it will be essential for its plates and bibliographies. In addition, see the Guide listed above and the following: [N7760 .L485]

Dictionary of Ancient Dieties (Art Reference)

Dictionary of Pictorial Subjects from Classical Literature: a Guide to their Identification in Works of Art (Art Reference)

Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Symbols, Attributes and Associations (Davis Reference)

Gods and Heroes in Art (Art Reference)

Gods and Heroes of Classical Antiquity (Art Reference)

Oxford Guide to Classical Mythology in the Arts (Art Reference) This covers art from 1300 A.D. and later, but may still be of interest for art or literature majors.

Athena: Classical Mythology on CD-ROM (Davis Reference)

Key Indexes, Databases and Internet Sites

L'Année Philologique, which is located in Art and Davis in print edition. The current major international bibliography for classical studies.

Art Full Text and Art Index Retrospective may be useful, especially for beginners and/or those who do not read foreign languages.

ARTstor provides curated collections of art images and associated data for noncommercial and scholarly, non-profit educational use.

CAMIO - RLG's Catalog of Art Museum Images Online - offers rights-cleared, high-quality art images for class projects, art history and studio art programs, course Web sites, lectures, presentations, and research resources.

JSTOR includes full text of important journals such as the American Journal of Archaeology and the Journal of Hellenistic Studies.

UNC Classics Department Arachne's Web gateway and University of Michigan's Classical Studies gateway.

The Beazley Archive Web site for the major archive at Oxford; includes bibliographies, a dictionary, Beazley's drawings, pottery database, images and bibliography, and many important links.

DYABOLA is a resource from the Deutschen Archaologischen Institute for the advanced researcher.

Perseus Digital Library is another key Internet project with vast information, both text and image.

Glossary of People and Myths from the Museum of Classical Archaeology at The University of Cambridge.

Gale Virtual Reference Library A collection of 25 reference books and encyclopedias in electronic format. The titles cover a wide range of subjects, from the arts to medicine, and from multicultural studies to social science. You can search one title at a time, up to 10 titles that you select, or by broad grouping such as biography, education, or history.