We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 June 2016
The Gallica programme of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and the Digital Library of the Institut national d’histoire de l’art (INHA), are two major French initiatives in the digitisation of art history information. Gallica was launched in 1995 and by the end of 2007 incorporated some 80,000 images and 90,000 texts. Essentially encyclopaedic in content, it nevertheless contains much material relevant to art, including iconographic documents from the library’s specialist departments. Mass digitisation of some 100,000 works per annum from 2007 onwards will add a substantial body of texts and periodicals in this subject. INHA’s digitisation programme for its Digital Library began in 2002: the two main areas it is currently concentrating on are a corpus of ‘classics of art history’, and the digitisation of specialised and rare documents such as the pre-1920 catalogues of the Louvre. 200,000 images are already available on line.
