How to Use the Bildindex?

[Jehan de Pelham]

I would like a little tutorial on how best to access this great database. Those who are using it to good effect, could you please be so kind as to share your techniques and tips?

John
Jehan de Pelham, esquire and servant of Sir Vitus

[Karen Larsdatter]

Okay, this is based on my experience with Bildindex -- I don't speak German (I can read it a little, and my father-in-law has a PhD in German, which helps on words that really get me stuck). I have not had any real luck with the search engine.

The key to using Bildindex is to kinda sorta already know where you want to be looking -- which museums you want to noodle around in. Figure out what city (and country) they're in. And figure out the German names for the city and country, too.

First, I click on Orte on that top menu.

Usually, if I'm using Bildindex to start out with, it's because I'm looking for something in a German museum; but if I'm looking in other countries' museums, I can select 'em on the pull-down menu at top left.

Now, you click on the alphabet to get to the city where the museum's located. The left-side menu is pretty much arranged like File Manager in a Windows system. I'm going to click any time I see the word Sammlungen ('Collections') and Kunstgewerbe ('Arts and Crafts'), because that's generally the kind of thing I'm looking for.

Then you usually have to go poking around to get to the exact category that interests you. The items within each category are generally organized chronologically.

When I find an image I'm interested in, I can click it for an intermediate blow-up (480x600), but I prefer looking at the large-sized version (1120x1400). The way you can get directly from the thumbnail to the biggie size -- do a right-click and find the URL for the image. Copy and paste the URL into a new window. The last letter before the ".jpg" will be a "c" -- replace it with an "a" to get the big size.

Bildindex is great for German collections, not so hot for other stuff. Some of the other systems I like using: The British Museum Compass; V&A Access to Images; Insecula (especially for the Louvre's collections); Fundación Lázaro Galdiano; and KIKIRPA (for Belgian museum collections). For manuscripts, I used to like KB/Meermanno's Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts (sometimes it doesn't work too well) but Gallica and Mandragore at the BNF are pretty cool.

[Thomas H]

Don't forget you can change countries too.

The bildindex is great fo finding that image that no-one seems to have but you know where the piece is

[Sebastian K]

Learn German

If that doesn't work try to get a good German dictionary just in case. As Karen said above, knowing what to look for helps enourmously, just browsing works, but since it is so vast you will need to sift a lot of sand to find something specific.

Cheers

Sebastian

[Jehan de Pelham]

Karen! You have assigned me some great homework.

This is how I digested some parts of it:

On the British Museum, I just did a search for Medieval, which obtained a large and far flung collection of items. I was of course most interested in the stuff from the late 13th century through the early 15th century. Good pictures and commentary--lots of good stuff here for the earlier middle ages.

From the V&A Access to Images, I did an "advanced search" and dated it from 1300 to 1420--no other criteria. This yielded 602 image results. Since I did not filter for location I had to sift out all the non-European items, but it was better to leave it unspecified and sift than miss out on some of the items which would have been missed (like Westphalia) if I had tried to go country by country. Light on the commentary in many cases, and great in others, but each image is given a place and a date, at least. HUGE resource here--awesome stuff. Stuff that I had no idea existed. Incredible boxwood bust showing in detail a female hairstyle that was explained elsewhere in an essay about late 14th C. hairstyles by Charlotte Johnson ( http://www.mathildegirlgenius.com/North ... rstyle.doc ). Way too much stuff to describe all of it. Go see.

John
Jehan de Pelham, esquire and servant of Sir Vitus

[Karen Larsdatter]

There are some other reasonably good websites along those lines, but those are kinda my faves right now. But I also like to use a Google Image Search if I'm looking for something where I know there's a set terminology for the item in question, though it will always throw back random crap.

For example -- if you're particularly interested in ceramic finds in London, there's The Ceramics and Glass Collection of the Museum of London. The MoL also has a searchable Picture Library -- it doesn't have much, though.

The British Library's site isn't as disappointing, but it's also a matter of knowing what you're looking for and where it's likely to be found. They have different searches for bookbindings, illuminated manuscripts, and an image library.

I'm currently working on a sort of guidemap to interesting categories of stuff on Bildindex. (But I'm also working on an updated version of the Atlantian MoAS Handbook, so this is a little less of a priority.)

[Olle]

Posted some time back at arador i think, but it says it all.

First a splash page.. click on the image, or wait for it to redirect you to the main page.

Below the header stuff, centered on the page, there is a text box with the word "ORTE" as the main header of the box. Click on that link.

At the left-hand column you'll see list of folders under the word "ORTE"

IMPORTANT.. click on the "plus signs" within the folders I mention from here on out, or it starts getting a little goofy.. some are links, but some aren't, and some of the links go to seemingly unrelated pages.

Ok, find the folder for the letter "N" and click on the Plus sign.

Scroll WAY down the list of folders, and look for Nurnberg (not Nurberg) (the "U" will have the two dots over it, but I don't know how to do that on here.)

Then, Sammlungen

Then, Germanishes Nationalmuseum

Then, Kunstgewerbe

Then, Waffen und Rustungen (rust has the "U" with dots again)

Rustungen und Rustungsteile



.K. guys,

don´t want to let you be in the dark.

Other museums on www.bildindex.de:

...Berlin / Sammlungen / Öffentliche Sammlungen / Kunstgewerbesammlung / Militaria

...Dresden / Sammlungen I / Historisches Museum / Kunstgewerbe / Rüstungen, chron.

...München / Sammlungen / Öffentliche Sammlungen / Bayerisches Nationalmuseum / Kunstgewerbe / Werkzeug, Waffen und Rüstungen / Rüstungen

...Ingolstadt / Sammlungen / Armeemuseum

These are the biggest ones, some single pieces are distributed all over the huge bildindex-world.

But remember: Most pictures are dated before WW II, some even before WW I, so some items are now lost, have become American, Russian or French property or simply changed the collection. Be aware that some descriptions are wrong, too.

Greetings

Peter

[Jehan de Pelham]

Awesome, Ollie. Thanks!

Karen, just the two websites I went to kept me busy for hours, and I didn't even really look at everything, just scanned it quickly into the semi-photographic memory I have. There were more diptychs and triptychs and Virgins with Baby Christ that you could shake a stick at.

Sebastian, the knowledge of languages other than English is an absolute requirement for a serious medievalist, agreed. I've got a couple of years of German, enough to get by in non-technical subjects. It'll do. I need to get better.

John
Jehan de Pelham, esquire and servant of Sir Vitus

[Karen Larsdatter]

Okay, I've done up a quickie roadmap to some of the interesting bits in Bildindex and posted it to my LiveJournal (since that way, y'all can gang up and look at it without causing error messages, like what happens on the Geocities page)

You can get to the entry at http://www.livejournal.com/users/strawb ... 71190.html

Again -- this only covers the German museums on Bildindex -- I might add some of the other countries' museums later, but most of the real-good goodies I've found on Bildindex have been in German museums anyway.

[Sebastian K]

Sebastian, the knowledge of languages other than English is an absolute requirement for a serious medievalist, agreed. I've got a couple of years of German, enough to get by in non-technical subjects. It'll do. I need to get better.

John
Jehan de Pelham, esquire and servant of Sir Vitus

John,

I know how you feel. Working on my desolate French right now. I have taken to watch movies I know well in French, if applicable with subtitles. This may be an option for you if you can get multilaguage DVDs which I know can be a problem in the UK and US.

If you need any specific help feel free ro ask, I will help as well as I can.

Cheers

Sebastian

[Kel Rekuta]

Okay, I've done up a quickie roadmap to some of the interesting bits in Bildindex and posted it to my LiveJournal (since that way, y'all can gang up and look at it without causing error messages, like what happens on the Geocities page)

You can get to the entry at http://www.livejournal.com/users/strawb ... 71190.html

Again -- this only covers the German museums on Bildindex -- I might add some of the other countries' museums later, but most of the real-good goodies I've found on Bildindex have been in German museums anyway.

What a generous gift!!!

Thank you!

Kel