Getty Updates Collection Site
The Getty has updated its museum collection search feature with new functionality. You can, for instance, now pull up a chart of gelatin silver prints by Imogen Cunningham in the Getty Museum collection, by decade of creation. Adjust the sliders to see works created in a range of years.
Comments
I entered at random "Utrecht" as a search term. There I came across one of my very favorite treasures at Getty: Hendrick ter Brugghen's "Bacchante with an Ape" of 1627 (accession number 84.PA.5).
Ter Brugghen is correctly identified as "(Dutch, 1588 - 1629)", but I've long thought it better to identify the artist's school, to allow viewers the chance to learn the characteristics of particular geographical locations (schools) within countries. So, for example, one could read that ter Brugghen was "(Dutch, The Hague 1588 - 1629 Utrecht, active in Utrecht)." Just sayin'.
Some people think of "Dutch" as being a small world, with few art centers. In fact, the Netherlands covers an area twice the size of New Jersey, and has scads of schools (for example, Leiden; Delft; Haarlem; and, of course, Utrecht.
I love there is an audio chat offered in ten languages on this work.
I also love that the image options range from the pedestrian view, that is, for downloading at (2601 x 3000 px); and also at "Presentation/study (888 x 1024 px)" for the data-deprived; "Large Image (2601 x 3000 px)"; and the full monty, "Highest Resolution (6512 x 7511 px)".
It was a pure treat seeing this work at highest resolution. I was reminded of the aphorism originating with a Broadway singer: "Nobody cares about the verse. Give people what they want: CHORUS, CHORUS, CHORUS!!"
Gotta love that precious monkey. Reminds me of the greatest animal painter of the 17th C., Frans Snyders, another Utrecht master.
Now, if Getty could post experts' 700-word essays on-line on paintings in its collection, that would be beautiful!
Good work so far.