Art Auctions, Collecting, Sales : Home

This directory was created to to help researchers locate primary source material about American collectors, dealers, agents and advisors, and the repositories that hold these records. Archives related to American collectors of the fine and decorative arts, including antiquities and non-Western art are included. Each record provides information about specific archival collections, their location, content when available, links, and contact information. (Updated regularly)
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Louise Blouin Media produces Gordon’s art price annuals and Blouin Art Sales Index. It is home to one of the largest art price databases of over 5 million records. Searches by artist name or auction lot are available on their website.
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The databases contain records taken from sources such as archival inventories, auction catalogs, and dealer stock books. The five databases are: 1. Archival Inventories: Archival inventories are legal documents from private and public archives that list objects from a household. The inventories in this database list works of art from private collections in the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, and France from 1550 to 1840. 2. Sales Catalogs: Typically published by auction houses and dealers, sales catalogs list works of art for public auction. This database includes catalogs from major cities in Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia from 1650 to 1840. 3. Goupil & Cie Stock Books: Maintained by galleries and art dealers, stock books record information about a work of art. This database contains records transcribed from the 15 stock books of Goupil & Cie/Boussod, Valadon & Cie. 4. Payments to Artists: This database contains approximately 1,000 recorded payments to artists made in Rome between 1576 and 1711. 5. Public Collections: This database contains descriptions and provenances of paintings created by artists born before 1900 held by public institutions in Great Britain and the United States. (Updated regularly)
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This database is drawn from documents in the Amsterdam City Archives and provides detailed information on ownership of works of art in the Dutch Golden Age. Compiled Professor John Michael Montias, it contains information from 1,280 inventories of goods (paintings, prints, sculpture, furniture, etc.) owned by people living in 17th century Amsterdam. Dates of the inventories range from 1597-1681. Nearly half of the inventories were made by the Orphan Chamber for auction purposes, while almost as many were notarial death inventories for estate purposes. The remainder were bankruptcy inventories. The database includes detailed information on the 51,071 individual works of art listed in the inventories. There is also information on the owners, buyers and prices paid when the goods were actually in a sale. While not a complete record of all inventories in Amsterdam during this time period, the database contains a wealth of information that can elucidate patterns of buying, selling, inventorying and collecting art in Holland during the Dutch Golden Age.
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