Sources

Source overview

Collection of historical photographs of the Institute of Art History of the CAS

The database is currently the largest database of historical photographs accessible online in the Czech Republic. The core of the collection of photographs, as well as a collection of graphic prints and plans, are photographs from the estate of Zdeněk Wirth, an art historian and conservationist; it includes materials formerly contained in the Historical Monuments Archive of the State Institute for Photogrammetry, Archaeological Commission and Viennese Central Commission for the Preservation of Historical Monuments. Photographs of architecture, interiors and photographic portraits from the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries represent a significant part of the database. The collection further includes many photographs of German, French and Italian provenance. Save for daguerreotypes, all the important photographic processes and techniques used in the 19th century are represented in the collection: in addition to albumen prints, there are pannotypes, ferrotypes, autochromes, oilprints, cyanotypes, and a set of salt prints, unique in terms of both scope and origin. The collection further includes a sizeable convolute of photographic albums and large-scale panorama photographs.

  • Person responsible for administration of information source:
    Mgr. Petra Trnková, Ph.D. (ptrnkova@gmail.com)
  • Current content of information source:
    approx. 60,000 scanned catalogue cards, 10,600 database entries and 1,500 catalogue entries
  • Intended content of information source:
    50,000
  • Listings have associated digital objects:
    Yes
  • Format of digital objects:
    jpg
  • Online access:
    http://treasure.udu.cas.cz

Author/administrator of source:
Institute of Art History of the CAS, v.v.i.

Availability:
online

Type of resource:
photography database

Subject:
history of art

Keywords:
image database, photography