Discoveries: A Library Blog

Painted portrait of an old man in red robes standing at a desk with large open
Visualizing the Spanish Artists Dictionary

Photoarchive intern Alexandra Provo and her collaborator Diana Sapanaro discuss their projects to use visualization technologies and Python scripts to make one of the Library's research tools, Spanish Artists from the Fourth to the Twentieth Century: A Critical Dictionary, accessible to the public in new ways.

Drawing of a massive townhouse standing on the corner of a busy intersection in mid-century Manhatta
Intimate Sketches of New York

One of the most popular series completed by the American illustrator Vernon Howe Bailey was his "Intimate Sketches of New York," which records the city during a period of dramatic growth — and change.

Half-length portrait of a woman wearing an embroidered dress,standing next to a bouquet of flowers.
The Lost Bride

Lost or destroyed paintings are perhaps the most painful reminder of the importance of photoarchives and similar repositories of images and accompanying metadata. An unfortunate example is this portrait of a young bride.

A black-and-white photograph of a Renaissance wall tomb set in a Venetian church.
Analog Facial Recognition

Beginning in 1925, Helen Clay Frick hired the Italian photographers Mario Sansoni and Oreste Nesti to traverse Italy documenting in situ sculptures, paintings, and frescoes that other firms such as Anderson, Alinari, and Brogi had neglected to capture. On several occasions, staff of the Frick Art Reference Library requested photography of objects specifically related to works in The Frick Collection. See more at frick.org/blogs/photoarchive/analog_facial_recognition

Two photographs of a small devotional altarpiece of the Madonna and Child
Kress Foundation Grant for Image Analysis Toolkit

The Frick Art Reference Library Photoarchive recently received a $25,000 grant from the Kress Foundation to support the creation of a toolkit that will perform computer vision analysis on digitized art historical photo archives. This toolkit will be a groundbreaking application of technology that will transform the way photo archives are used.

A restored half-length painting of the Virgin Mary wearing a veil holding the Baby Jesus.
A Byzantine Madonna in Italy

The third and final entry in a series of three blog posts focusing on conservation "interventions" as recorded in the holdings of the Frick Art Reference Library Photoarchive is this mysterious devotional image in the church of San Martino in Velletri, Italy.

A woman holding a young child and a small spaniel on her lap.
Lost and Found

The second of a series of blog entries focusing on conservation “interventions” as recorded in the holdings of the Frick Art Reference Library Photoarchive is this problematic portrait of an engaging young woman, her son, and their serene spaniel attributed to Sir William Beechey (1753–1839).

Half-length portrait of a young woman dressed in a short-sleeved white dress and a shawl in a chair.
Art and Fashion

The first in a series of blog entries focusing on conservation “interventions” as recorded in the holdings of the Frick Art Reference Library Photoarchive is this elegant portrait of Mrs. William Bedlow Crosby attributed to Eliab Metcalf (1785‒1834), which underwent substantial restoration before 1940.

Group portrait of four young brothers and their young sister seated around a table.
The Bannard Family Leaves Brooklyn

The Photoarchive recently received a gift of three reproductions of portraits of Brooklyn’s Bannard family, including a charming group portrait of the five Bannard children.

A view into a large study room featuring round tables and skylights.
Art Historical Connections: The Hague and New York Meet Again