Digital cataloguing of oil paintings nears completion
Public Catalogue Foundation to move on to archiving sculptures
The Public Catalogue Foundation has almost completed its project to digitise all of the oil paintings in the UK’s national and local authority museums, and now plans to do the same with its sculptures.
The Public Catalogue Foundation’s director, Andy Ellis, said the organisation, in collaboration with the BBC, will have digitised all 210,000 oil paintings in UK public collections by mid-December.
The online archive, which has taken 10 years to compile, cost £6m to collect and photograph. The BBC provided website build and hosting, as well as some historic content, while Oxford University Press provided short biographies for about 1,400 of the artists.
Sir John Soane’s Museum director Tim Knox said the museum was “delighted” with the care and professionalism of the photographer sent by the Public Catalogue Foundation to photograph the works, “some of which were difficult to access”.
He added that it was good that the project had expanded, and that he was happy to see Hogarth paintings from collections around the country in one place.
Ellis said the Public Catalogue Foundation was working up a Heritage Lottery Fund bid “in the low millions” to do the same for an estimated 70,000 sculpture works in the UK’s public collections.
Helen Pheby, curator at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, said: “Sculptures are more three dimensional than oil paintings, but as a documentary resource and archive, it is a fantastic idea.
“We would hope that it would encourage people to make the journey to see the real objects.”
Ellis said the Public Catalogue Foundation was considering using its “core competence in digitisation” to offer a paid-for digitisation service for smaller collections.
The Public Catalogue Foundation’s director, Andy Ellis, said the organisation, in collaboration with the BBC, will have digitised all 210,000 oil paintings in UK public collections by mid-December.
The online archive, which has taken 10 years to compile, cost £6m to collect and photograph. The BBC provided website build and hosting, as well as some historic content, while Oxford University Press provided short biographies for about 1,400 of the artists.
Sir John Soane’s Museum director Tim Knox said the museum was “delighted” with the care and professionalism of the photographer sent by the Public Catalogue Foundation to photograph the works, “some of which were difficult to access”.
He added that it was good that the project had expanded, and that he was happy to see Hogarth paintings from collections around the country in one place.
Ellis said the Public Catalogue Foundation was working up a Heritage Lottery Fund bid “in the low millions” to do the same for an estimated 70,000 sculpture works in the UK’s public collections.
Helen Pheby, curator at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, said: “Sculptures are more three dimensional than oil paintings, but as a documentary resource and archive, it is a fantastic idea.
“We would hope that it would encourage people to make the journey to see the real objects.”
Ellis said the Public Catalogue Foundation was considering using its “core competence in digitisation” to offer a paid-for digitisation service for smaller collections.