Visual Resources Update February 2021

Visual Resources Update February 2021

THE SINAI COLLECTION:

Screenshot of many images of the same Byzantine icon within a dark rectangle (image viewer).
Screenshot of the new Sinai icon collection website.

Visual Resources is finalizing the new Sinai Archive website, which will replace http://vrc.princeton.edu/sinai/  and includes all the images of the icons from the University of Michigan and Princeton together at last.

It is being used in classes this spring at Princeton with ART310 ‘The Icon’ taught by Justin Willson and at Michigan with HISTART 394-002  ‘Saints in Medieval Art’ by Paroma Pratterjee. We are not unveiling it publicly yet (that will be at the Byzantine Conference in October) but if anyone is interested in seeing it, we are sharing the link and would like feedback. We believe it to be the first use of IIIF and an image viewer to present single works with images from different collections and with different canvas-level information.

NEW VIDEO TUTORIAL: HOW TO OPEN/SAVE DPX FILES

THE BUTLER COLLECTION:

Sepia tone photograph of two people standing in a ruin
Tell Akibrin

In an effort to make all of Howard Crosby Butler’s Syria Expedition archive (all notebooks and drawings) available online in an interactive map, VR is working with Butler’s own site data, and establishing concordance with other sources to determine geographic coordinates. We started this work in May 2020 with the assistance of TCNJ students, continued with the help of Princeton students over the summer, and Michele Mazeris is nearing the end of this phase of edits. The data will soon move to area specialists (including Dr. Ross Burns, former Australian Ambassador to Syria and Lebanon, who has kindly made his extensive site data available) before being published online via OpenContext.

THE MORGANTINA ARCHIVE:

Coin cast
Coin cast from Morgantina excavation.

While Visual Resources staff has had limited access to McCormick, efforts have been made this month to digitize large portions of the Morgantina archive’s photographic contact sheets in order to assist researchers in selecting desired negatives for higher quality scans. Professor Ingrid Edlund-Berry of UT Austin and Professor Malcolm Bell of UVA have benefited from this workflow, led by Jacob Wheeler. New photography by John Blazejewski of coin casts in the collection was also produced for Professor Bell.

INTERESTING PROJECTS AND RESOURCES:

Ultra close image of paint texture on paintingPAINTINGS ARE NOT FLAT

The V&A launches Explore the Collections, a newly redesigned search and discovery collection interface.

Kress Foundation launches a new IIIF site. This means Visual Resources can put these images directly into the image viewer in Canvas! They’ve also launched the Kress Collection Digital Archive which documents the history, acquisition, condition and care of the more than 3,000 works of art in the collection.

Detail of Bayeux tapestry, soldier with head chopped off Explore the entire Bayeux Tapestry online in amazing resolution!