The Project

The database of the Census documents antique art and architecture known in the Renaissance. The project focuses on recording which antique monuments were proved to be known where, when and in what state of  preservation. The database is not intended to be an encyclopaedic compilation of the reception of antique art. The main data consist of source materials of diverse quality regarding scientific examination and are available for further research.

The database as a whole is wide-ranging and complex. More than 200.000 entries contain pictorial and written documents, locations, persons, concepts of times and styles, events, research literature and illustrations. The monuments registered amount to about 6.500, the entries of monuments to about 12.000 and the entries of documents to 28.000.

Among the written sources are inventories of collections, travelogues, archival documents, biographies of artists etc. Information on pictorial sources especially include drawings from sketchbooks as well as single sheets and graphic arts. Only a limited range of paintings, sculptures, medals and works of arts and crafts can be found, as frequently the direct knowledge of their antique models cannot be clearly verified due to creative forms of adaptions and assimilations of the antiquity. In addition modern research literature dedicated to the manifold forms and processes of artistic and antiquarian reception of the antiquity are registered in the form of bibliographic references.