Getty Provenance Index Makes 12 Million Records Publicly Available

"The Getty Research Institute announced an update to its index of provenance-related research today. The remodeled version now offers more than 12 million records available to the public.

The Getty Provenance Index (GPI) initially launched in the 1980s to keep track of the ownership history of each artwork in the museum’s collection. Since then, it has become an integral part of the Getty’s research on provenance, collecting, and art markets. Today, the records included in the GPI extend well beyond the Getty itself.

These resources have been drawn from rare primary source materials such as archival inventories, auction catalogs, and dealer stock books dating as far back as the 16th century. They include records on art dealers, collectors, and the broader art trade. The GPI includes a particularly strong dataset on European and American paintings.

Following a decade of redevelopment, the digital database is now making some 12 million records more accessible and publicly available for the first time through the Linked Open Data platform...."