Research Exercise

The goal of this exercise is for you to familiarize yourself with:
•typical types of sources available for the study of art history (books, articles, primary and secondary sources) 
•with ways of finding and judging what are the best sources for your research 
•the writing of a very precise bibliography that uses the correct format for each source and conveys, through its format, what kind of source it is. 
A WORK OF ART FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT: Joseph & Potiphar's Wife by Guido Reni (please see attached PDF file "Reni.pdf" for this work of art. Your research revolves around the published art historical literature about this work of art.)
Recommended electronic sources FOR YOUR RESEARCH of this assignment:
➢ University of Toronto Library Database: http://onesearch(dot)library(dot)utoronto(dot)ca/
It is recommended that you search the “catalogue” and “articles” (two of the red tabs on the above page) RATHER THAN using Summon, which is so inclusive of sources, scholarly and non-scholarly, that you will be overwhelmed by the results. 
(PLEASE SEE ATTACHED PICTURE A)
➢ KUBIKAT: http://aleph(dot)mpg(dot)de/F?func=file&file_name=find-b&local_base=kub01&con_lng=eng
This electronic library catalogue is a specialized art history resource that catalogues books, journal articles, book reviews and chapters in books (which the U of T catalogue will not). There is an English interface but the cataloguing language is in German. Book reviews are indicated by the phrase “Rezension von” (“review of”). If you locate a source in the KUBIKAT you need to search for it in the U of T library catalogue to see if it is in our holdings.
(PLEASE SEE ATTACHED PICTURE B)
➢ BHA: Bibliography of the History of Art 
http://primo(dot)getty(dot)edu/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do;jsessionid=AD5995C7CED1458DFB517E4C3E452D83?mode=Advanced&ct=AdvancedSearch&dscnt=0&dstmp=1415479617619&vid=BHA
The Getty provides access to the Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA) and to the Répertoire international de la littérature de l'art (RILA) for no charge on its web site. These citation databases, searchable together, cover material published between 1975 and 2007. For material published after 2007 see the International Bibliography of Art(IBA) at www(dot)csa(dot)com. 
This specialized art history bibliography often has abstracts or digests of the books, articles and other scholarly publications it catalogues. A good way to find out the content of a source. Also available through the U of T library portal, “E-resources”
(PLEASE SEE ATTACHED PICTURE C)
➢ International Bibliography of Art: http://simplelink(dot)library(dot)utoronto(dot)ca/url.cfm/157126
The successor to the BHA, covering publications since 2007.
It is recommended that you use the U of T Library’s data bases, which are very good. But you will want to avoid the most inclusive data bases because it will be too difficult to navigate the vast results. You are looking for scholarly, not popular, sources on the works. You will drown if you just start to google!
YOUR ASSIGNMENT MUST INCLUDE: 1) a bibliography 2) responses to each of the 8 sections (please number them and label them as below). Attachments for some sections are required. You may not find an answer for each of the eight sections. For instance, you may not find a primary source and for some works there are no preparatory works preserved. But, you need to look and figure out what can be found. And if you cannot find a primary source, a drawing, a document, or an exhibition you must show how you conducted your research nonetheless (i.e. “I searched this catalogue or used this data base using the following search terms and did not find a result”; or, “According to the author of the catalogue raisonné on such and such an artist, no drawings by this artist survive.”) It is absolutely essential that you scrutinize any books/articles that are cited in the catalogue entry on your object in the catalogue raisonné. That is where you have to start.
1) A bibliography (first part of this assignment)
Create a Bibliography for your Assignment: In addition to creating a document with each of the eight sections, put all the sources you cite in the 8 sections in a bibliography using the humanities style of citation in the Chicago Manual of Style. (You can use the citation tool on the U of T library catalogue to format the sources you are using. If you look up the book you want to cite you have the option to click on “cite.” 
(SEE ATTACHED PICTURE D)
But the citation style for journal articles, chapters in books and other sources can’t be accessed this way. You may need to go directly to:
CMS: The Chicago Manual of Style (CMS) is an elaborate guide to any possible permutation of bibliographic or footnote citations. It can be a daunting source to use. The good news is that it has an answer to every question and learning to navigate it and know its terms is very satisfying! The CMS is available as an online book through the U of T library catalogue. However, for a helpful basic guide to citation style in the Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition see: http://owl(dot)english(dot)purdue(dot)edu/owl/resource/717/03/. 
Works of art will be assigned to you ((this is necessary so that not more than 10 people work on a given object): collections are indicated when there is more than one version of the subject by the artist. The author of the catalogue raisonné or title is indicated here when the title of the book does not indicate its status as the catalogue raisonné. That’s your only clue, though!
1. Domenichino, Last Communion of St. Jerome 
2. Rubens, Death of Seneca (the Corpus Rubenianum is the multi-volume catalogue raisonné divided in volumes by the subject matter)
3. Rubens, Entombment (the Corpus Rubenianum is the multi-volume catalogue raisonné divided in volumes by the subject matter) 
4. Alessandro Algardi, St. Filippo Neri (Philip Neri) and an Angel 
5. Agostino Carracci, Last Communion of St. Jerome 
6. Annibale Carracci, The Butcher Shop 
7. Guido Reni, Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife. 
8. Nicholas Poussin, Confirmation (from a cycle of the Seven Sacraments) (Christopher Wright)
9. Caravaggio, The Beheading of St. John the Baptist (Walter Friedlaender)
10. Velázquez, The Surrender at Breda (José López-Rey)
11. Orazio Gentileschi, Lot and His Daughters (Berlin Dahlem) 
12. Bernini, Portrait of Scipione Borghese 
2) 8 SECTIONS FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT TO COMPLETE (2nd part of this assignment)
1. Catalogue raisonné. Find the catalogue raisonné of the artist in which “your work” is “catalogued.” A “catalogue raisonne”, also referred to as a “complete catalogue”, or the “complete works” of a given artist, is a book that attempts to catalogue every known work by the artist. Sometimes they are limited to paintings or drawings or sculpture (i.e. Bernini). A proper catalogue raisonné includes the entire artist’s production. It is such an important type of book for the study of art that there is a WIKI page dedicated to it: http://en(dot)wikipedia(dot)org/wiki/Catalogue_raisonn%C3%A9
The catalogue raisonné almost always includes a “catalogue” with entries on all of the artist’s known works. Each catalogue entry discusses (sometimes briefly, sometimes at length) what is known about the history and the history of publication of each work. Your work may also be discussed in the body of chapters (which usually precede the catalogue of works in such a publication), but you are specifically to provide a copy of the catalogue entry on your object in the book.
I have chosen artists for whom there exists a catalogue raisonné in English. (It is unlikely there is more than one, but if it is a major artist there may be). Search hint: search the U of T’s digital library catalogue for the artist (use full name). On entries you want to learn more about, click on “details”. “Catalogue raisonné” is one of the library’s cataloging criteria (though the catalogue is inconsistent in classifying books as such so don’t rely entirely on the digital library catalogue) and if the book is a catalogue raisonné it will be described as catalogue raisonné or “complete works” in that field). When in doubt, look at the table of contents of the book. Sometimes there is a catalogue raisonné but it is not part of the book’s title.
a. Provide a Xerox of the catalogue entry on the object from the book in your submission. Write a bibliographic entry for the catalogue entry in your bibliography.
b. Looking exercise: Look at the rest of the artist’s work in the catalogue raisonné and find another work that is closely related. Write two sentences justifying your choice. (Copies by other artists are not acceptable). Provide an illustration of the related work. 
2. Exhibition catalogue: Find an Exhibition catalogue, that is, a published book documenting the works displayed in a special exhibition. In almost all exhibition catalogues there are introductory essays (which may illustrate works that were not included in the exhibition) AND catalogue entries for all the works that were in the exhibition. Attach the catalogue entry and write a bibliographic entry in your bibliography for the catalogue (or catalogues). 
Note: works that are displayed as part of a museum’s collection may be published in the museum’s catalogue of its collection or parts of it. This is not the same as an exhibition catalogue, which usually has a combination of works loaned from other institutions and sometimes works of their own.
• How to identify an exhibition at which your work was displayed? Look at a recent publication on your object, starting with the catalogue raisonné, which sometimes lists the exhibition histories of works, and see if a catalogue entry in an exhibition catalogue is cited. Sometimes exhibition catalogues are published by university presses rather than the museums themselves, so you will have to look closely at the publication information to see if it was connected to an exhibition. 
• Exhibitions of the artist’s work is the most obvious route.
• Exhibitions on the period and country are also good places to look.
• Exhibitions by medium in a time and place or genre (i.e. Baroque landscape paintings)
• Other ways to search: for exhibitions on the art of the region or the city in which the artist worked (exhibitions like Bernini and the Art of Baroque Portraiture which included other artists).
Note: If you cannot find an exhibition (and note that sometimes not all works displayed in an exhibition are illustrated in the catalogue so be sure to check the check list of works displayed usually provided in these cases) then provide some documentation of how you went about looking for it, including the catalogues you checked because you thought they were likely sources. (I realize some books will not be available)
3. Primary source: Try to find a primary source published in a book in the 17th century, the period that discusses your object (such as Bellori’s Lives of the Artists). A primary source is a source from the period of time in which the object was made (in this case, 17th or 18th centuries). A secondary source is a later modern writing (19th or 20th century) about it. 
How to go about this? Look at the catalogue entry in the catalogue raisonné and if such sources are not mentioned in the catalogue, look into the text for the discussion of your work and see if a primary source is mentioned. You will need to consult the bibliography in the back of the book as these citations are usually shortened in the entries. If there is a biography (also referred to as “life” of “vita” in Italian) of the artist dating to the 17th century it will often be discussed in the section of a catalogue raisonné that recounts the artist’s biography. Biographies were written by Filippo Baldinucci, Giovanni Pietro Bellori, Carlo Cesare Malvasia, and Domenico Bernini in this period. I have put English translations of these books on reserve at Robarts and at UTM. The “lives” of some important artists have been published as stand-alone books as well. 
4. Documents: Are there any documents directly connected to your object? (documents are unpublished manuscript sources dating to the period in which the work was produced. They can include: payments to artists or their assistants, for work or for materials; contracts between the artist and patron, court cases, inventories of churches or collections, travellers’ accounts, and so on). Documents are considered primary sources but here I am interested in things that are not published in the 17th century but are part of the exchange around the object or an account that is not in a book. In some cases there are many. Choose one and in a few sentences explain what the document tells us about the object. Some catalogue raisonnés are very thorough in their citation of documents, others not at all. If yours does not cite documents look into the bibliography around the object and look up the sources that seem most likely to include documents. (You will need to consult the bibliography of the catalogue raisonné when you look at the book)
5. Preparatory works: Are there any preparatory drawings, painted sketches (for paintings) or clay or wax sketches (for sculptures) preserved that have been connected to your object (a catalogue raisonné is the best place to look to start. If the catalogue raisonné doesn’t include drawings, or is several decades old, check for catalogues of drawings by your artist)? 
Make a list of the drawings/sketches and attach illustrations of them. WHAT TO LIST (in this order). Artist, title, date (if known), name of Museum or Collection, Museum Inventory number (if provided). If there are no preparatory works connected to the object or you were not able to find out if there are any, describe how you arrived at your conclusion. (i.e.: The author of the catalogue raisonné you consulted explicitly left out drawings or clay/wax sketches; or, there are no surviving drawings by the artist; or, there are surviving drawings, but none connected to your work). 
6. One article or book dedicated to the work: Is there one (or more) article, chapter of a book or entire book dedicated entirely or almost entirely to this single object? (here it will be useful to search on JSTOR, KUBICAT or the library’s general electronic portal for articles.)
7. Two important recent contributions of the object: List two “important” recent contributions to the art historical literature on your object in a scholarly journal (last 10 years). I recommend using KUBIKAT (because they catalogue book chapters and articles in addition to books) and JSTOR (because their data bases search actual content). Don’t list chapters in books. Just journal articles.
8. Most important book on the artist: List on your bibliography what might be considered the most important book in English on the artist who made the work: explain why you chose the title you did, describing your research process (what searches you did to arrive at your list of possible choices for the most important book).
Factors include:
• Frequent citation in other scholarly works (you can use google books to see what turns up) and respect shown by subsequent scholars
• Prestige of the press. Academic (university presses) tend to be more prestigious for scholarly works. Amongst the most prestigious university presses are Yale, Princeton, Cambridge, Oxford, Chicago, California, Harvard, and so on. Commercial presses (Random House, Harper and Row, etc.) often publish survey books, textbooks, and works of a less scholarly nature. If you are unsure whether a book is scholarly or not, look up the author and check out their credentials. If the author is a journalist, he/she is not a scholar.
• Reviews of the book. You can search for reviews of the book on JSTOR, available through the U of T Library portal. Academic journals in which books on Renaissance art are typically are reviewed include, above all: The Art Bulletin, The Burlington Magazine, Renaissance Quarterly, Sixteenth Century Studies, Oxford Art Journal, CAA Online reviews (available through the College Art Association website), Art History (available online through the U of T Library), Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte (with articles in English).
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I JUST NEED TO PASS THIS ASSIGNMENT, SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO MAKE IT VERY OUTSTANDING, 50% IS GOOD FOR ME. NO MATTER THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OR THE 8 SECTIONS, THEY ALL ABOUT THE RESEARCH OF ART WORK Joseph & Potiphar's Wife by Guido Reni. 
PLEASE WRITE ME EMAIL ABOUT ANY QUESTIONS