Sarah Bigler

Detail of a sketch of a saint beneath the Virgin Mary on a pedestal holding the infant Jesus

Ars Longa: The Turbulent Fate of Raphael's Baronci Altarpiece

Reproductions in the Frick’s Photoarchive allow us to piece together a full visual history of Raphael’s Baronci Altarpiece, the first recorded commission of the High Renaissance master. The altarpiece—today found only in fragments—sat peacefully for nearly three hundred years until a devastating earthquake and looting by Napoleon changed its fate permanently.

Religious wall fresco with chunks and sections of plaster missing from damage

Ars Longa: Documenting a Trove of Frescoes Nearly Lost to War

The Camposanto complex in Pisa, Italy, housed some of the most significant fresco paintings from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries—until their near destruction during World War II. The Frick Art Reference Library’s Photoarchive contains images from before the damage and prior to extensive restoration efforts, providing a window into a crucial period in the site’s long history.

Marble statue of King Louis XII of France in military garb with his right hand raised

Ars Longa: Capturing a Revolutionary Restoration

An image held in the Frick’s Photoarchive shows a statue of King Louis XII of France standing in regal bearing. At the Louvre today, you’ll find the sculpture displayed in three separate pieces. In this post, learn about the moment captured in the Photoarchive and its place in the object’s turbulent physical history.

Collage of black-and-white archival photographs of works of art

175,000 New Photoarchive Records Available Digitally

In February 2021, the Frick Art Reference Library announced the completion of a massive, three-year project to digitize the library’s historic Photoarchive collection. Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, this initiative has made records and images for more than 175,000 works of art available in the Frick Digital Collections, NYARC Discovery, and the library’s online catalog.

Collage of Rubens's "Venus at the Forge of Vulcan" and "An Old Woman with a Brazier"

Ars Longa: Photoarchive Retraces History of Separated Rubens Paintings

Ars Longa is a blog series exploring lost, altered, and destroyed works of art that are preserved in the records of the Frick's Photoarchive. In this post, the Photoarchive helps us uncover the complex history of a painting by the circle of Peter Paul Rubens, two separate panels of which today reside in two different museums.

Photoarchive: Highlights of the Collection (Part Two)

The Photoarchive, the Frick Art Reference Library's founding collection, comprises more than 1.2 million reproductions of works of art from the fourth century to the present day. This webinar will focus on Photoarchive images and documentation for works of art that have been restored, altered, or destroyed. Paintings by Taddeo Gaddi, John Westbrooke Chandler, and John Singer Sargent will be presented as examples of the Photoarchive’s unique ability to document works of art over time.

Photoarchive: Highlights of the Collection (Part One)

The Photoarchive, the Frick Art Reference Library's founding collection, comprises more than 1.2 million reproductions of works of art from the fourth century to the present day. This webinar will focus on three works of art, Masolino da Panicale’s Madonna of Humility, Pieter de Hooch’s Interior with Two Embracing Couples, and Edgar Degas’ Ballet Dancers in the Wings.