Research by Subject: Art & Art History: Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

How to use these sources

Reference sources provide opportunities for fact-checking and/or short introductory articles on topics.

Often, reference sources can be great resources to help you develop your topic or expand your knowledge of related ideas.

Some uses of reference sources include:

Reading topical encyclopedia pages to inspire questions and topics
Using dictionaries and encyclopedias to understand what a word or phrase that shows up in your sources means and why it's important
Using a multi-language dictionary to translate a word that appears in its original language
Using an atlas or other image-heavy source to get a sense of where something is/was and what it looks/looked like.

References sources are one option you have for these research needs- one benefit of using reference sources like the ones on this page is that they tend to have a high level of academic authority because they are written and reviewed by academic experts.

Oxford Art Online (includes the Grove Dictionary of Art)

Oxford Art Online: Video Introduction

Oxford Art Online This link opens in a new window
Oxford Art Online provides us with access to Grove Art, with tens of thousands of encyclopedia entries providing information on artists, works, schools, and many important places and events in Art History. Many of the more in-depth entries (primarily artists, schools, and important works) include bibliographies to help further your research & understanding.
Biography in Context This link opens in a new window This database contains biographies from reference sources as well as full-text articles from periodicals, allowing you to search for people based on one or more personal facts such as birth and death year, nationality, ethnicity, occupation or gender.