Today's Hours:
A primary source is anything that provides first-hand evidence. In the context of art history, primary sources are written documents from the time period that you're studying.
In addition to written documents, another source of first-hand evidence is the artworks themselves (or images of artworks). However, when art historians talk about "primary sources," they're usually referring to written documents, not to images. It's assumed that you will consult high-quality images of the artworks you're studying.
Below are five strategies for finding primary sources for Baroque art.
Try adding "primary sources" to a Google search.
For example, you could search for Caravaggio primary sources or Baroque art primary sources.
Primary sources are often cited in secondary sources or tertiary sources. Watch for these citations. Then, when you see an interesting primary source mentioned in a citation, search for that primary source using Google and/or the library search box.
Most of the books in the library's collection are secondary sources, but some of our books are collections of primary sources. Here's an example:
To find other books like this one, search the library and add the word Sources to your search. Run the search, and limit the results to Books and Electronic Books.
There are plenty of places on the Internet where you can browse collections of documents from the Baroque period. I recommend starting with EuroDocs:
Secondary sources sometimes include reproductions of primary sources.
For example:
Unfortunately, there isn't a way to limit your search to secondary sources that contain primary sources. Instead, search for secondary sources in the usual ways, and keep an eye out for any that contain primary sources. In particular, whenever you're examining a book, be sure to check the table of contents to see whether the book includes any primary source documents.
