VPHB64 - Baroque Visions

The Ashmolean came into existence in 1682, when the wealthy antiquary Elias Ashmole gifted his collection to the University. It opened as Britain’s first public museum, and the world’s first university museum, in 1683.
Though the collection has evolved considerably, the founding principle remains: that knowledge of humanity across cultures and across times is important to society. A laudable intention, but the uncomfortable truth is that much of the collection was inevitably selected and obtained as a result of colonial power.

Explore the Library's Collections.

Get closer to the British Museum collection and immerse yourself in two million years of history, across six continents. Collection online allows access to almost four and a half million objects in more than two million records. High definition images can be enlarged and examined in detail which will enable you to view the incredible workmanship on the Royal Game of Ur, or the intricate carving on this African hunting horn – just a few of the thousands of highlights to discover.

The collections of the Thomas Fisher Library are many and varied, reflecting the wide diversity of research conducted at the University of Toronto by its own faculty and students, visiting scholars, and the general public. Chronologically, the collections range from a 1789 B.C. Babylonian cuneiform tablet from Ur (seen at left), to original drafts and printed works of contemporary Canadian writers.

The Fitzwilliam Museum is the lead partner of the spectacular collections of the University of Cambridge Museums (UCM) and Botanic Garden. From antiquity to the present day, the Fitzwilliam houses a world-renowned collection of over half a million beautiful works of art, masterpiece paintings and historical artefacts.

Discover all objects and masterpieces in the online collection and arrange your favourites into your own personal collection.

The Collections database consists of entries for more than 480,000 works in the Musée du Louvre and Musée National Eugène-Delacroix. Updated on a daily basis, it is the result of the continuous research and documentation efforts carried out by teams of experts from both museums.

Explore more than 490,000 works—from around the world and throughout history—and the research and conversations they inspire. Many are in the Public Domain.

an institution dating back 200 years and one whose origins and unique nature are largely due to the collecting tastes of Spain’s 16th- and 17th-century monarchs. Collecting at that period differed from the present day. Rather than aiming at comprehensiveness, collectors aimed to assemble as many works as possible by their favourite artists.

Browse 763,873 works of art.

With its numerous institutions that have evolved over generations, the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin constitutes an encyclopaedic museum, spread over many different sites, that aims to preserve, research, and display art treasures and cultural artefacts dating from all human history, and educate the public about their importance. The Staatliche Museen zu Berlin’s collections encompass the fields of European and non-European art, archaeology and ethnology from virtually all nations, cultures, and periods.

The V&A is the world’s leading museum of art and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects, books and archives that span over 5,000 years of human creativity.

Wellcome Collection is a museum and library based at 183 Euston Road, London, displaying a mixture of medical artefacts and original artworks exploring "ideas about the connections between medicine, life and art".[2] Founded in 2007, the Wellcome Collection attracts over 550,000 visitors per year[1] and is advertised as "the free destination for the incurably curious". The venue offers contemporary and historic exhibitions and collections, the Wellcome Library, a café, a bookshop and conference facilities. In addition to its physical facilities, Wellcome Collection maintains a website of original articles and archived images related to health.