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Largest and most comprehensive work in the field of art history. Covers all periods, all geographic areas. Heavily illustrated. Long, signed articles, but good subject index (v. 15) let's you get into them to isolate small bits of information. Excellent coverage of art movements, periods in art history, and art in particular geographic areas, but most useful feature is probably the articles on special subjects (e.g. "The Picturesque," "Perspective," "Comic Art and Caricature," "Dealing and Dealers," "Tragedy and the Sublime"). Hundreds of artist biographies. Excellent, full bibliographies at the ends of articles. Supplements update information in some of the subject areas covered in the original set, have their own indexes.
The most comprehensive of the smaller art encyclopedias, with coverage of different aspects of art theory, iconographical themes, architectural features, and city planning, in addition to the usual surveys of places and periods. East German editorial direction resulted in considerable bias in favor of East European and Third World topics.
Contains signed articles on the art of all periods and places. Particularly useful for its full biographical entries on French and Italian artists and also for its coverage of architectural monuments. Brief bibliographical data at the ends of all but the briefest articles. Well illustrated.
The ultimate in concision--all art history gets compressed into a one-volume reference work. Brief articles on artists, art forms, periods, etc. Topics in British art tend to get fuller treatment.
Covers art of all periods and places, but seems strongest on 18th-20th-c. Europe. Articles not as pithy as those in McGraw- Hill (#3), but bibliographies more substantial. Many excellent small illustrations in color and b & w.
Basically biographical. International coverage, but German, Austrian, and Swiss painters get most space. Each article contains a chronological list of the painter's most important work, including current (i.e. 1970) locations. Most articles include a signature or monogram facsimile. V.6 contains non- biographical articles on such subjects as painting technique, periods, schools, movements, etc. Also has topographical index of all collections mentioned in the artist entries with lists of the paintings in them.
Short biographies of architects, definitions of terms, and longer articles on the architecture of major countries, including those of the Far East. Some bibliographical data.
Most comprehensive recent encyclopedic work on architecture, covering all periods in architectural history, places of architectural significance, types of buildings, architectural terms. Includes many signed, scholarly articles, much bibliographical data, and many small but serviceable illustrations and plans. Biographical articles on major architects and planners contain annotated chronological lists of their most important works.
Once the standard encyclopedia of architecture, covering major architects, styles, periods, countries, buildings, and terms. Can still be useful for explanations of traditional architectural and building terms. Illustrated mostly with elaborate line drawings.
Another old standard encyclopedia of architecture, covering major architects, styles, periods, countries, terms, and subjects relating to the social and legal aspects of architecture and building. Longer articles signed and accompanied by bibliographical data. Well illustrated with photographs, plans and diagrams. Some articles in Supplement (v.5, published in 1937) reflect Nazi ideology.
Contains concise articles, mainly biographies of artists and designers, histories of firms, manufacturers, and their products, and definitions of terms. Brief bibliographical data at the ends of many articles.
Mostly biographies of designers and design theorists from all periods and places, and histories of designers' guilds and associations. Also includes entries on important architectural and design books and journals and their influence.
Brief articles on periods in the history of design, terms, motifs from all geographic areas, and the lives of designers and architects. Particularly good on early design texts and illustrations and their influence on later artists.
Coverage confined to "those arts which are made to serve a practical purpose but are nevertheless prized for the quality of their workmanship and the beauty of their appearance"--ceramics, textiles, furniture, metalwork, the book arts, etc. Contains relatively long articles on the art forms themselves, biographies of artists and designers, definitions of terms.
Contains very brief definitions of terms and motifs from all periods and cultures. Illustrated with helpful line drawings.
Covers the history of the development of photographic equipment and processes, lives of important photographers and photographic inventors, history of the aesthetic and expressive applications of photography, and technical terms.
Excruciatingly detailed and scholarly encyclopedia of German art, which is defined as the art of areas in which German language and culture are predominant. Also, when covering themes, movements, building types, etc., that cut across geographic boundaries, it tends to trace their development even if the latter moves outside German cultural territory. Particular strengths include Christian and Jewish liturgical objects, architectural features and building types, and secular iconography. Profuse bibliographical documentation. Murky illustrations. Very slow publishing progress--only into G's.
Useful mainly for its well-written biographical articles on U.S. artists and architects. Seductive color illustrations.
Comprehensive, scholarly encyclopedia of ancient art which provides chronological coverage from the prehistoric cultures of northern Europe down to 500 A.D., including quite a lot of material on Early Christian art. Concentrates on the classical period in the Mediterranean world, but topographical coverage ranges from Roman Britain across Europe and through the Near East to ancient India. Signed articles on archaeological sites, iconographical themes, art forms, and individual artists. Full bibliographical data. Excellent illustrations, plans. "Atlas" volume is a corpus of well-known series of drawings of ancient monuments by early antiquarians and historians. Supplement volume updates articles in main set and provides some entries for new discoveries and research.
Brief but scholarly articles covering major figures, literature, mythology, philosophy, religion, science, geography, etc. of the ancient world, including Greece, Rome, and the ancient Near East. Short bibliographies.
The standard scholarly German encyclopedia covering the whole field of classical studies, including long, signed articles on literature, history, biography, archaeological sites, etc. Lots of bibliography. Extremely confusing arrangement caused by more- or-less concurrent publication (which began in 1894) of the work in three separate series: A-Q, R-Z, and supplement volumes. Any supplement volume can contain material updating any of the articles in the main sets. Consequently, H. Gärtner's subject index (DE5.P331, General Reference) to all the articles in the supplement volumes can be very helpful.
Enormous encyclopedic work covering the history of early Christianity. Contains long, signed articles, accompanied by line illustrations and bibliographies, on the art and architecture, iconography, symbols, epigraphy, paleography, numismatics, liturgy, rites, and ceremonies of the early church to the time of Charlemagne.
More (and less) than a straight reference work on Early Christian art. Addresses the problem of the interrelationship of early Christianity with late Antiquity. People, places, religious concepts & liturgy, philosophy, the iconography of things, deities--anything of significance within that context is treated. Scholarly, signed articles with bibliographies. Publication slow- -only into the H's.
Provides scholarly articles on traditional subjects such as art and architecture, agriculture, literature, medicine, science, and theology. Also covers facets of everyday life--baths, clocks, padlocks, etc.--and has many entries on social history topics, like childbirth, food and diet, marriage and the family, slavery, and so on. Most entries equipped with bibliographies.
Very scholarly and carefully produced encyclopedia of all aspects of Byzantine art and architecture, including sites, iconographical themes, art forms, notable figures. Articles are accompanied by line drawings, plans, and much bibliographical data. So far, into the K's.
Both provide detailed, scholarly, interdisciplinary coverage of the Middle Ages, including historical events; social, legal, and religious aspects of medieval life; important works of literary and visual art; people, including artists and patrons. Both provide good bibliographical data at the ends of articles. V.13 of the Dictionary is a subject index. The Lexikon is still in progress, having recently reached the K's. Two handy one-volume encyclopedic treatments of the Middle Ages are A. Grabois, The illustrated encyclopedia of medieval civilization, 1980 (CB353.G7, General Reference), and J. Dahmus, Dictionary of medieval civilization, 1984 (CB351.D24 1984, General Reference).
Useful not so much for its treatment of Renaissance art, but rather for its convenient, concise coverage of peripheral figures- -politicians, patrons, writers--and historical events. Similar works are J. Hale, A concise encyclopaedia of the Italian Renaissance, 1981 (DG445.C66, General Reference), and I. Rachum, The Renaissance: an illustrated encyclopedia, 1979 (CB361.R26, General Reference).
Excellent, concise coverage of 20th-c. artists, groups, and movements.
Particularly useful for well-written biographies of modern artists and concise, reliable treatment of 20th-c. movements.
Concise entries cover book and binding history, evolution of publishing procedure, history of type design, and biographies of printers, designers, binders, and collectors.
Contains concise entries covering garden history in various geographic areas to about 1900, significant trends in garden design, garden concepts and technical terms, individual gardens of historic interest, and influential garden designers and patrons.
Concise scholarly articles, with excellent bibliographies, cover church history, Christian doctrinal development, biographies of ecclesiastics and scholars, definitions of terms and customs, etc.
Includes only sites inhabited at some point between 750 B.C. and 500 A.D., excluding those that were exclusively Early Christian. Provides geographic coverage from Britain into the Middle East, including North Africa. Each entry gives a short history of the site, an account of what excavations have taken place there, and what the major results have been. Extensive bibliographic data.
Concise entries for every person and place mentioned in the Bible. Supposedly reflects information from latest archaeological excavations and research. Many illustrations and maps.
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Alex Ross
Tel: (415) 725-1037
Fax: (415) 725-0140
email: alexr@leland.stanford.edu