Image: L-R Frank Auerbach, Camden Theatre in the Rain, Conway Photographic Collection; Vanessa Bell, Virginia Woolf, Conway Photographic Collection
The Witt Photographic Collection, spanning eight centuries of Western art across 26 national schools, is now freely accessible online following an 18-month digitisation project.
The Courtauld Institute of Art has completed a major 18-month project digitising its Witt Photographic Collection, making over two million images of Western art freely available to the public online.
The collection, one of the largest museum photographic archives of its type globally, contains photographs, reproductions and cuttings of Western art from the 13th century to present day.
Previously stored in over 19,000 boxes occupying 1.4 kilometres of shelf space at Somerset House, the collection includes works from 26 different national ‘schools’ of art, categorised by artist and subject matter.
In late 2023, the entire collection was relocated to the Netherlands, with Picturae BV contracted to complete the digitisation process.
Professor Mark Hallett, Märit Rausing Director of The Courtauld, said the project’s completion “will ensure that our rich photographic archive is accessible to scholars and the public for generations to come.”
The Witt Photographic Collection was founded in the 1890s by art historian Sir Robert Witt, who was later one of The Courtauld’s co-founders. The collection began during his undergraduate years at Oxford while specialising in the Italian Renaissance and expanded significantly in 1899 following his marriage to Mary, a fellow collector of photographs of Western art. The Courtauld acquired the collection in 1944 through a deed of gift.
Tom Bilson, Head of Digital Media at The Courtauld and Director of the digitisation project, said: “The Witt has consistently been a pioneer in digital projects within the humanities. The vision to make this rich resource available online has never wavered. It serves not just the art history and trade communities, but also supports research in areas such as topography, costume, genealogy, and natural history.
BIlson said the project’s next next steps include plans to “transcribe information on the images themselves and add keywords, enabling the Witt to be searched by titles, subject matter and concepts.”
The project builds on The Courtauld’s digital scholarship history, following their 2023 completion of digitising the Conway Library photography collection, which involved 14,000 volunteers in what was described as the biggest public inclusion project in The Courtauld’s history. That same year, The Courtauld Gallery launched its online collection featuring over 33,000 objects from the Middle Ages to the 21st century.
