The Trailer

Project History

In October 2009 eight major museums in Europe and the United States began working together with the Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf and the Fachhochschule Cologne on a research project to create a digital catalogue of the paintings by Lucas Cranach the Elder, his sons and his workshop. The project was funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (2009 - 2018) as part of a larger initiative to develop new kinds of internet-based research tools to facilitate transmission of art historical and conservation information. The objective of the project was to catalogue and examine systematically Cranach paintings with the assistance of an interdisciplinary team of scholars specialising in art historical research, history, and computer science. The results were to be made accessible to both professionals and the general public on the international research platform cda. This initiative was conceived as a bridge project combining the digitalisation and systematic cataloguing of a large number of paintings with a more in-depth interdisciplinary investigation; and, in this respect, it differs from the traditional model that focuses on attribution.

The starting point of the project

The Paintings of Lucas Cranach, a catalogue raisonné by Max J. Friedländer and Jakob Rosenberg, was first published in 1932, last revised in 1979, and is now considered out of date. It has 520 pages and lists approximately 1,000 panel paintings, only 452 of which are illustrated. The oeuvre is arranged according to the main works and their variants, and ‘an exhaustive comparison of all randomly, surviving and identified panels’ appeared ‘superfluous’ to the authors. Today the number of paintings that can be associated with the workshop has almost doubled, including numerous outstanding works by Lucas Cranach the Elder and Lucas Cranach the Younger, that were not mentioned by Friedländer and Rosenberg in their catalogue. Until the early 2000s reliable information about the oeuvre and high-resolution images were difficult to access, and many works housed in churches or private collections remained undocumented. Although a systematic survey was lacking, over the last century more than a thousand studies had been published within the context of exhibition and collection catalogues, conference proceedings, essay collections or as articles in journals. These needed to be classified to provide scholars with a broad overview. In the last twenty years worldwide, there have been over thirty large Cranach exhibitions, all with catalogues. Moreover, many museum archives contain extensive reports, both digital and analogue, on technical examinations, conservation treatments and scientific analysis. An evaluation of this material has brought new insight into questions of attribution, authenticity, dating, presentation, function, and the altered appearance of the works. All these disparate resources laid the foundation for the Cranach Digital Archive research project.

The Cranach Digital Archive serves three main purposes:

• Preservation
  The Cranach Digital Archive provides an opportunity for long-term storage of documentary material from museums and private archives such as reports, X-radiographs, colour slides and digital born images. Such material, particularly in smaller museums and private archives, is in danger of being lost within a relatively short period of time.
• Access
  The documentary material is recorded, catalogued and commented to provide most efficient access in the electronic environment. The cda serves as a platform from which all information currently housed in different institutions can be made accessible to the public.
• Research and Dissemination
  The cda not only provides access to historical documentary material and completed research but also encourages new forms of interdisciplinary scholarly research and teaching. The project staff is actively involved in generating new documentary material, such as dendrochronological analysis and digital IR-reflectograms.

The Pilot Project Phase (2009 – 2011)

From October 2009 until September 2011 the Cranach Digital Archive aimed to establish methodologies for sharing documentation between institutions and across international borders, and to create new research tools to facilitate online study. The Cranach pilot project has built on lessons learnt from other Mellon pilot projects and tested and expanded the methodologies of these models in significant ways.

Results of the Pilot Project Phase (2009 – 2011)

Collaboration

In the Pilot Phase nine founding partners and another ten associate partner institutions cooperated in the organisation of the Cranach Digital Archive:
Founding Partners: Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakothek and Doerner Institut, Munich; J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; Kunstmuseum Basel; Metropolitan Museum, New York; National Gallery, London; Gemäldegalerie der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin; Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden; Prof. Dr. Dieter Koepplin, Basel; Dr. Werner Schade, Berlin; Prof. Dr. Ingo Sandner, Dresden

Partners: Anhaltische Gemälde-Galerie, Dessau; Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg; Klassik Stiftung, Weimar; Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg, Coburg; Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels; Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig; Stiftung Preußischer Schlösser und Gärten, Berlin-Brandenburg; Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen; Stiftung Schloss Friedenstein Gotha; Szépmüvészeti Múzeum, Budapest
In addition collaboration with a further 23 project contributors was initiated.

Infrastructure

A data model and standards for data registration and exchange were being developed:

• The collection management system (TMS) was customized for use as an interim data repository in collaboration with the Digital Art Archive Düsseldorf (d:kult).
• A prototype application and a web interface based on open source SQL database and IIP image client-server system was developed.

Production

• Art historical, technical and conservation documentation as well as high-resolution photographs and technical images were compiled on more than 500 Cranach paintings (in total more than 7,000 images).
• Within the pilot project phase the project team examined more than 300 Cranach paintings in 16 collections (Berlin, Bremen, Brussels, Coburg, Dessau, Gotha, Halle, Weimar, Wittenberg, Leipzig, Naumburg, Nuremberg, Kronach, Regensburg, Karlsruhe, Basel) employing amongst other methods: digital photography, digital microscopy and digital infrared reflectography.
• A Cranach literature database has been produced with more than 1,600 entries linked to the objects.
• New OSIRIS IR-reflectograms of more than 350 paintings were generated.
• In a special study on the Lucretia paintings more than 60 versions were documented.
• In January 2012 the cda provided Internet access to data assets on 400 paintings (in German and English) and c.5,000 images (including more than 300 infrared reflectograms and 130 x-radiographs).

The Second Project Phase (2012 – 2015)

The goal of the second project phase was to expand the existing network, to develop the shared infrastructure and to considerably increase the content of the archive in order to achieve an innovative research tool and a comprehensive research resource on Lucas Cranach. Furthermore the project sought to promote collaborative research between museums and developed a unique international and sustainable research network.
The second phase addressed two primary goals:

• Further development of web-based collaborative research tools and workflow procedures that encouraged the sharing and dissemination of art historical, conservation and scientific information in order to advance scholarship and learning.
• Compilation and generation of art historical, technical, and conservation documentation related to more than 1,000 paintings by Lucas Cranach and his workshop to expand the resource and increase understanding of his art. The project also aimed to include written documents from the account books of the Saxonian Court by Lucas Cranach the Elder in order to develop a timeline based on a wider spectrum of primary sources.

Results of the Second Project Phase (2012 – June 2015)

Collaboration

Since 2012 the cda team has established collaboration and exchange with a further 140 institutions (museums, research institutions and church communities). In total the cda presented documentation and research results from more than 183 institutions in 24 countries that were generated by hundreds of scholars and are continuously being expanded.

Infrastructure

Development and improvement of workflow procedures and of the various thesauri based filter and search functionalities (in German and English), image comparison, a search history, a personal gallery and many more functionalities such as for example visualization of relationships between objects with thumbnail images

Production

The cda provides free online-access to art historical, technical and conservation information on 1,300 paintings including:

• more than 12,200 high resolution images
• more than 850 pdf documents
• more than 5,000 text pages (in German and English)
• 1,100 infrared reflectograms
• 360 x-radiographs

The project team examined more than 930 paintings in 85 collections and documented these works amongst others with digital photography, digital microscopy and infrared reflectography (not yet all online)

Reports were generated with descriptions and interpretations of several hundred infrared reflectograms

Currently the cda provides free online-access to 345 scans of archival documents together with new transcriptions by Monika and Dieter Lücke. They give insight into the production parameters and workshop practice among other things.

The following archives were digitized in the second project phase:

• Dieter Koepplin archive (Basel) [7,500 files – completed, partly online]
• Max J. Friedländer archive (RKD, The Hague) [1,090 files – completed, partly online]
• Paolo Cadorin archive (x-radiographs) [c. 60 paintings – completed, partly online]
• Peter Klein archive [c. 300 reports – completed, mostly online]

The bibliographical data base presently lists 2,950 Cranach related publications

The Third Project Phase (2015 – 2019)

Towards a comprehensive, networked and self-sustainable research resource
The 3-year project aims to achieve three primary goals:

• Development of a comprehensive research resource on Lucas Cranach
• Development of an innovative, user-friendly, networked and sustainable digital repository
• Securing the continuation of the Cranach Digital Archive as a permanent activity

To achieve these three primary goals, we will take the following five steps:

• Ensure that almost all paintings by Lucas Cranach the Elder, his sons and his workshop members are represented in the cda with approved metadata and high-resolution images. Furthermore the cda aims to publish significantly more technical information as well as conservation information on the new entries and the paintings already in the cda. In order to achieve this core aim the cda would collaborate with many more museums, archives, church communities and private collectors. The cda aims to digitize and to safeguard existing documentary material and to actively generate new documentation with current technologies.
• Ensure that the cda will be the comprehensive resource on Lucas Cranach based on an interdisciplinary and inter-institutional collaboration of art historians, conservators, conservation scientists and historians. The cda aims at a high standard of data curation involving the advisory board and museum partners for updating. While the main focus is on the paintings the cda proposes to further enrich the content and to significantly increase the number of archival documents on Cranach (letters, invoices, payment orders et al.).
• Ensure the continued development of innovative, user-friendly and sustainable technical applications that support access, research and long term preservation of a rich body of documentary material on Lucas Cranach. This will include enhancing the interface to make the archive an attractive resource for many users, professionals, teachers and students alike; developing a web-based data entry module for easy updating, improving comparative possibilities and the addition of further refining filters and other tools to reflect the broad interest of users.
• Ensure further networking and communication of the resource to benefit from other resources and to attract more visitors. Therefore cda proposes to export metadata and persistent links to other portals and to link content from other important resources.
• Establish a permanent cooperation between the Kunstpalast, Cologne University of Applied Sciences and the Deutsches Dokumentationszentrum für Kunstgeschichte – Bildarchiv Foto Marburg. While the long term preservation of all data in the Digital Art Archive Düsseldorf (d:kult) is already secured the online application of the cda will be maintained and developed further in cooperation with the Bildarchiv Foto Marburg.

The Fourth Project Phase (2018 – 2022)

From 2018 until 2022 the Cranach Digital Archive participated in a research project (based at the Germanische Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg and funded by the Leibniz-Association), that compiled a Critical Catalogue of Luther portraits (1519 - 1530). This comprehensive catalogue of Luther portraits evolved from interdisciplinary co-operation between the Germanische Nationalmuseum (GNM), the Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), the Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf and the Cologne Institute of Conservation Sciences (CICS), involving scholars specialising in art historical research, church history and computer science.
In 2020 and 2021 the Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung provided the Cranach Digital Archive with funding, which was used to expand the content of the paintings catalogue.

Project team

• Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg

Prof. Dr. Daniel Hess
Oliver Mack M.A.
Daniel Görres M.A.
Wibke Ottweiler, Paintings Conservator

• Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Institute of Church History

Prof. Dr. Anselm Schubert
Amalie Hänsch M.A.

• Cologne University of Applied Sciences

Cologne Institute of Conservation Sciences
Prof. Dr. Gunnar Heydenreich
Thomas Klinke, Paper Conservator

Advanced Media Institute
Prof. Christian Noss
Jorge Pereira B.Sc.
Volker Schaefer B.Sc.

• Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Pattern Recognition Lab

Prof. DEng. (habilitation) Andreas Maier
DEng. Vincent Christlein
Aline Sindel M.Sc.

Results of the fourth stage of the project (2018 – 2022)

In March 2022 ‘The Critical Catalogue of Luther Portraits (1519 – 1530)’ was published online (KKL). This is the first comprehensive catalogue of all surviving printed and painted portraits of Luther from the first decade of the Reformation. In total 641 prints and 86 paintings from 40 collections were studied and examined employing scientific analysis. These were then digitalised and assessed using the most recent pattern recognition methods. The paper used for the printed portraits was systematically characterised and contextualised using a specific matrix. Employing this method, both fundamental statements about the authenticity and the chronology of the portraits could be made and their sequence within a single edition reconstructed. New material discovered during the project shed light on the authenticity of the portraits and their source value for the history of the Reformation. It was thus possible to prove that, despite the assumptions of recent research, famous portraits such as ‘Luther as Junker Jörg’ are not retrospective historical presentations of the Reformer from a later period, but already existed in the early Reformation years around 1522.

The KKL provides a prototype for future data management in cda with regard to interdisciplinary study and evaluation. Digital technology has made it possible to develop new structures for displaying and documenting prints, drawings, paintings, and archival documents, thus affording new insights into individual works and the complex relationship between works. This will lay the foundation for a critical evaluation of a body of work that played a pivotal role in European Renaissance art.

In 2022 the number of paintings entered in cda had reached 2,360, with over 21,000 high-resolution images and 10,000 pages of text in German and English, as well as 1,100 PDF-files. More than 1,550 infrared reflectograms, 770 x-radiographs and many technical examination reports provide insight into the creative process. Conservation reports inform us about changes in the condition of the paintings. Additionally, at least 4,000 bibliographical references offer a broad overview of published research on Cranach.

The Fifth Project Phase (2023 – 2026)

For the Cranach Digital Archive a new project phase dedicated to the study of Cranach’s prints and drawings began in March 2023. The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung are providing the financial support for the interdisciplinary research and scientific examination of the prints and drawings by Lucas Cranach the Elder, his sons and the workshop. Participants include the Kupferstichkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, the Deutsche Dokumentationszentrum für Kunstgeschichte - Bildarchiv Foto Marburg, the Kupferstich-Kabinett, Staatlichen Kunstsammlungen Dresden, as well as other leading collections.

In cooperation with scholars specialising in art historical research, reformation history and computer science we will examine some 300 drawings and 600 prints by Lucas Cranach the Elder, his sons and the workshop, documenting the complex relationship between the printing matrix, impressions from different states and the numerous editions. The results will be made accessible to both professionals and the general public on the international research platform cda, the Graphikportal and the on online portals of our partner institutions.

The present content of cda will provide a unique opportunity to examine the prints and drawings within a wider spectrum of primary sources and illustrate the diversity of the workshop’s central role as mediator during a time of political and confessional upheaval throughout Europe. It is with this comprehensive approach that we hope to capture a broader audience and foster an interactive interest in the German Renaissance, which would contribute to sustaining this important chapter of the world’s cultural heritage.

Project Team

• Dr. Stephanie Buck, Kupferstich-Kabinett, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
• Dr. Christian Bracht, Deutsches Dokumentationszentrum für Kunstgeschichte – Bildarchiv Foto Marburg, Philipps-Universität Marburg
• Prof. Dr. Gunnar Heydenreich, Cologne University of Applied Sciences/ Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf
• Prof. Dr. Dagmar Korbacher, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett

• Georg Josef Dietz, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett
• Daniel Görres, Cologne University of Applied Sciences / Kunstpalast Düsseldorf
• Ariane Hennell, d:kult, Kulturamt, Landeshauptstadt Düsseldorf
• Prof. Dr. David Hotchkiss Price, Vanderbilt University, Nashville/Tennessee
• Jana Herrschaft, Cologne University of Applied Sciences / Kunstpalast Düsseldorf
• Thomas Klinke, Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Köln / Cologne University of Applied Sciences
• Dr. Gudrun Knaus, Deutsches Dokumentationszentrum für Kunstgeschichte – Bildarchiv Foto Marburg, Philipps-Universität Marburg
• Armin Kunz, New York
• Dr. Mailena Mallach, Kupferstich-Kabinett, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
• Dr. Christien Melzer, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett
• Prof. Christian Noss, Cologne University of Applied Sciences
• Dr. Doris Oltrogge, Cologne University of Applied Sciences
• Jorge H. F. Pereira, Cologne University of Applied Sciences
• Helen Smith-Contini, Cologne University of Applied Sciences / Kunstpalast Düsseldorf
• Frank von Hagel, Institut für Museumsforschung der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin
• Prof. Dr. habil. Susanne Wegmann, Cologne University of Applied Sciences

Project Partner

• Albertina, Vienna
• Anhaltische Gemäldegalerie, Dessau
• Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg
• Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg
• Klassik Stiftung Weimar, Graphic Arts Collection
• Kunstsammlungen Coburg, Kupferstichkabinett
• Lutherhaus, Wittenberg (Stiftung Luthergedenkstätten)
• Martin-Luther-University, Halle-Wittenberg
• Reformationsgeschichtliche Forschungsbibliothek Wittenberg
• Stiftung Schloss Friedenstein, Gotha
• Staatliches Museum, Schwerin

Project Organisation

Organisers

• Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf
• University of Applied Sciences, Cologne
  Prof. Dr. Gunnar Heydenreich (project director)

Founding partners

• Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakothek, Munich
  Dr. Martin Schawe
• Doerner Institut, München
  Prof. Dr. Andreas Burmester
• J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
  Yvonne Szafran
• Kunsthistorisches Museum, Wien
  Dr. Karl Schütz
  Dr. Guido Messling
  Mag. Alice Hoppe-Harnoncourt
  Mag. Elke Oberthaler
  Mag. Monika Strolz
• Kunstmuseum Basel
  Dr. Bodo Brinkmann
• Metropolitan Museum, New York
  Dr. Maryan Ainsworth
• National Gallery, London
  Dr. Susan Foister
• Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz
  Prof. Dr. Bernd Lindemann
  Dr. Stefan Kemperdick
  Dr. Babette Hartwieg
• Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister
  Dr. Stephan Koja
  Roland Enke
• Prof. Dr. Dieter Koepplin, Basel
• Prof. Dr. Ingo Sandner, Dresden
• Dr. Werner Schade, Berlin

Associate partners

• Anhaltische Gemälde-Galerie, Dessau
  Dr. Norbert Michels
• Centre de recherche et de restauration des musées de France (C2RMF), Paris
  Marie Lavandier
  Michel Menu
• Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg
  Dr. Daniel Hess
  Oliver Mack
• Klassik Stiftung, Weimar
  Dr. Bettina Werche
  Dr. Karin Kolb
• Kunstsammlungen der Veste Coburg, Coburg
  Dr. Klaus Weschenfelder
• Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brüssel
  Dr. Veronique Bücken
• Museo Thyssen Bornemisza, Madrid
  Mar Borobia
• Museum der bildenden Künste, Leipzig
  Dr. Jan Nicolaisen
  Rüdiger Beck
• Netherlands Institute for Art History, Den Haag
  Ursula de Goede
• Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe
  Dr. Holger Jacob-Friesen
• Städel Museum, Frankfurt/M.
  Prof. Dr. Jochen Sander
• Statens Museum for Kunst, Kopenhagen
  Dr. Jørgen Wadum
  Loa Ludvigsen
• Stiftung Luthergedenkstätten in Sachsen-Anhalt
  Dr. Stefan Rhein
  Jutta Strehle
• Stiftung Preußischer Schlösser und Gärten, Berlin-Brandenburg
  Dr. Samuel Wittwer
  Mechthild Most
• Stiftung Schloss Friedenstein Gotha
  Dr. Allmuth Schuttwolf
• Szépmüvészeti Múzeum, Budapest
  Miklós Gálos
• Thüringisches Hauptstaatsarchiv - Ernestinisches Gesamtarchiv, Weimar
  Dr. Bernhard Post
• Prof. Dr. Peter Klein, Hamburg
• Dr. Monika und Dietrich Lücke, Nauendorf

Advisory Board

Dr. Maryan Ainsworth, New York
Dr. Bodo Brinkmann, Basel
Dr. Susan Foister, London
Prof. Dr. Dieter Koepplin, Basel
Dr. Werner Schade, Berlin
Dr. Karl Schütz, Vienna
Dr. Regine Stein, Marburg

Specialist consultancy

Prof. Dr. Thomas Dreier
Sven Mitsdörffer
Institut für Informationsrecht, Zentrum für angewandte Rechtswissenschaft (ZAR),
Universität Karlsruhe / Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)

Prof. Dr. Louisa Specht
Lehrstuhl für Europäisches und Internationales Informations- und Datenrecht
Universität Passau
 

Project team

Prof. Dr. Gunnar Heydenreich (Kunstpalast/CICS)
Helen Smith, Mellon Fellow (CICS)
Jana Herrschaft (CICS)
Daniel Görres (Kunstpalast/CICS)
Prof. Christian Noss (Cologne University of Applied Sciences)
Jörg Stahlmann (up to 2018)

In cooperation with
Prof. Dr. Ingo Sandner, Dresden
Dr. Monika Lücke
Dietrich Lücke

Student assistants

Christine Unsinn (Freie Universität, Berlin)
Linda Schmidt, Sonja Ruß, Svenja Dickmann, Nicole Reds (Cologne Institute of Conservation Sciences, University of Applied Sciences)

With contributions by

Désirée Monsees (Universität Kassel)
Laura Thiepold (Heinrich Heine Universität Düsseldorf)
Prof. Dr. Martina Sitt (Universität Kassel)
Prof. Dr. Thomas Pöpper (Westsächsische Hochschule Zwickau)
and many more.

Related projects

Wege zu Cranach

'Routes to Cranach' is a collaborative project, involving the places which have particular significance for the life and work of Lucas Cranach the Elder and Cranach, the family of painters. The aim is both to recognize and preserve Cranach's artistic legacy as well as to showcase his dynasty to a wider public. There are currently twelve partners participating in the project: Coburg, Dessau-Roßlau, Eisenach, Erfurt, Gotha, Kronach, Lutherstadt Wittenberg, Meissen, Neustadt/Orla, Nürnberg, Schneeberg und Weimar. A scientific advisory board comprised of art historians and Cranach experts will supervise the work.
http://wege-zu-cranach.de/wege-zu-cranach.html

Digitales Kunst- und Kulturarchiv Düsseldorf (d:kult)

d:kult is the joint initiative of museums and cultural institutions of the city of Düsseldorf to manage and to provide access to their collections with estimated 3.5 million objects. The CDA collaborates with d:kult and uses the collection management system as the initial data repository.
http://www.duesseldorf.de/kultur/kulturamt/dkult

Research Space

ResearchSpace is an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation funded project aimed at supporting collaborative Internet research, information sharing and publication for the cultural heritage scholarly community. The ResearchSpace environment intends to provide the following integrated elements: Data and digital analysis tools, Collaboration tools, Semantic RDF data sources, Data and digital management tools, Internet design and authoring tools, Web Publication.
http://www.researchspace.org

Raphael Research Resource

Since 2007, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has been funding a series of pilot projects in digital recording and transmission of art historical and conservation documentation. The National Gallery's Mellon Digital Documentation Project centres on the Gallery's remarkable and diverse group of 10 paintings by Raphael. Collaboration with other institutions allowed other works by Raphael to be included, bringing together art-historical, technical and conservation-based information and creating a platform, which could eventually host Raphael's complete Oeuvre in unprecedented depth.
http://cima.ng-london.org.uk/documentation

The Rembrandt Database

The Rembrandt Database is a collaborative pilot project of the Netherlands Institute for Art History (RKD) and the Royal Picture Gallery Mauritshuis in The Hague. The project is funded by the Museums and Art Conservation program of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation as part of a larger initiative to create digital assets that foster international collaboration between institutions.
The goal of The Rembrandt Database is to create a multi-lingual online research resource capable of integrating conservation, technical and art historical documentation on paintings by or (formerly) attributed to Rembrandt from different museums and international institutions. The database builds upon the extensive network of existing RKD databases, and will be accessible via the website www.rembrandtdatabase.org (.com/.net/.eu/.nl). http://english.rkd.nl/Projecten/the-rembrandt-database-mellon-project

Cranach Magnified

Cranach Magnified is a pilot project of the J. Paul Getty Museum. Cranach Magnified allows you to investigate the refined painting technique of Lucas Cranach the Elder and his workshop by comparing zoomable macroscopic details from different paintings side by side. The project focuses on paintings executed between 1525 and 1530, and the sinuous, almost calligraphic brushwork, textured foliage, and surprisingly minute features characteristic of Cranach's style in the late 1520s.
http://www.getty.edu/museum/conservation/cranach_comparison/index.html