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Metadata Methodology

Ontology

For this project, I used Dublin Core as the main standard, with elements of VRA to capture specific metadata relevant to portrait miniatures.

Metadata Scheme

Title

  • Required
  • Titles generally reflect the name of the sitter in each portrait miniature (except in the case of an unknown sitter), and are mostly the same as the titles used by the insitutions these works belong to. The only exceptions are where I felt more detail should be added (e.g., "Nicholas Hilliard, Self Portrait, Aged 30," vs. "Self Portrait, Aged 30."

Creator

  • Required
  • Getty: The Union List of Artist Names
  • LC: Name Authority File
  • Persons: Persons from Wikidata
  • Though most artists featured in this collection are generally well known within this genre, I still had difficulty finding some of them in Getty: The Union List of Artist Names. Most suprisingly, I had difficulty finding Nicholas Hilliard in the Getty: ULAN. I had more success overall with the LC: Name Authority File and Wikidata.

Date

  • Required
  • Most items have documented dates. When precise years are not known, the insitutions collecting these works provide an aproximate date. 

Description

  • Required
  • Descriptions detail the content of the artworks, including the sitter, clothing, hairstyles, and backgounds when relevant. When an insitution provided further contextual information about the portrait, I included this information in the description. If an insitution did not provide a comprehensive enough description, I supplemented it with information about the content of the portrait.

Subject

  • Required
  • Getty: The Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT)
  • LC: Subject Headings
  • LC: Name Authority File
  • Items: All Wikidata Items
  • Persons: Persons from Wikidata
  • I chose to use a comprehensive list of thesauri for subject in order to capture both individuals and thematic qualities in the portrait when possible.

Has Style Period

  • VRA Ontology
  • Getty: The Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT)
  • Since these portraits represent various styles over hundreds of years, this field is meant to further locate each work in time and provide aesthetic context.

Medium

  • Getty: The Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT)

Diameter

  • VRA Ontology
  • Used when measurements are provided by diameter.

Height 

  • VRA Ontology
  • Used when measurements are provided by height and width.

Width

  • VRA Ontology
  • Used when measurements are provided by height and width.

Has Part

  • Used to indicate if a separate item is included with the portrait (e.g., jewellery, ivory boxes, and snuffboxes).

Coverage

  • Getty: The Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN)
  • Where the portrait was painted.

Provenance

  • The object history provided by an institution for each object featured from their collections. Some provenances are more extensive than others based on the information provided by each museum online.

Rights

  • The rightsholder of each work.
  • Items featured have generally been accessioned by each insitution for their permanent collections.

Identifier

  • The accession number for each object given by an insitution and provided online.

 

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