Rebecca

I'd appreciate any information about the availablity of slides and/or digital images for purchase at museums in Europe. Right now I'm focusing on Italy - specifically Florence and Rome - since that will be the destination of my first trip to Europe. <BR><BR>I need the slides to teach an Advanced Placement Art History class I'm planning to teach in the US. Slides are a very expensive part of teaching this class and my high school will not be cover any of the expenses. It's up to me and my pocketbook. Companies that sell slides charge about $2.50 per slide and more for digital images of fine art. My preference is high quality digital images because I intend to use the images in PowerPoint presentations. <BR><BR>I've checked a couple of museums online and just don't find specific information about slides - or even books for that matter. <BR><BR>So I thought I'd ask here before I begin emailing museums. <BR><BR>Thanks !<BR>Rebecca

Leslie

I can't speak for Italy, but in Prague, at the Alfonz Mucha Museum, the gift shop sold a CD Rom of Mucha's art work. I think the CD cost about $10.<BR><BR>You should probably contact the gift shops at the specific museums.

Rebecca

Thanks Leslie --<BR><BR>The problem with most CDs is that I can't copy the image. I need to be able to get the image in a file on my hard drive so I can use it in a couple of different pieces of software.

Leslie

Rebecca, my office has a projector that attaches itself to the hard drive to project images onto a screen for training and presentation purposes. Possibly you could look into investing in this piece of equipment, which might save you money in the long run. I don't understand why you are unable to download images from a CD Rom to your hard drive. Have you contacted your AV department or the teacher that heads up your computer department?

notrollsplease

Troll alert. Trying to get something for nothing

xxx

Although most older works of art are not copyrighted because of age, the images from these are fiercely protected by most museums. You are unlikely to find cheaper slides and may not legally transfer these into digital images for the most part. As a teacher, you should be extra careful about violating intellectual property rights as you set an example for your students.

Rebecca

Leslie - <BR><BR>The commerical CDs I'm familiar with - such as the ones that come with the major textbooks - don't allow the images to be moved to the hard drive. They have an investment to protect, I understand that. I also understand that a projector can be used to project the images. <BR><BR>Since I intend to create Power Point presentations for each "lecture" and test reviews I need the images as files on my hard drive. <BR><BR>I assumed that a museum CD that only cost $10. would not allow the images to be copied to the hard drive. I would have expected the images to be viewable only using the CD itself. <BR><BR>

Rebecca

Gee folks --<BR><BR>I said I want to BUY the images from museums ! Just because I said the school isn't footing the bill don't assume I'm going to violate copyright laws. In the last week I had the idea that perhaps I could buy these images for less at the museums themselves than from of the large slide distributors. <BR><BR>Part of what I teach is ethics -- I'm very aware of the example that I set for students. <BR><BR>My question was to people who knew about availability of digital images or slides at museums in Florence and Rome specifically.

Rex

I think I'm being over-cynical, but I am curious - - what exactly is the educational setting for which you plan to use these materials? "Advanced Placement" makes it sound like you want to use these for high school. Are you/were you an art history teacher (or major)? I am a little surprised that there aren't resources galore out there - - almost just for the asking.<BR><BR>Or maybe I don't understand what you mean by high resolution images.<BR><BR>My own quick Yahoo search turned up two web sites (there must be hundreds of other sites also relevant to this question) - - and they do not help me with my confusion.<BR><BR>The first is the Web Gallery of Art - - http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/welcome.html - - which contains "over 9,200 digital reproductions of European paintings and sculptures created between the years 1150 and 1800" - - this is not an obscure site, I think. It seems like I have seen it cited on lists of top-rated web sites before. All of these are free with just a right click. Most are "high enough" resolution - - or so it seems to me. After all, if you're going to use these in a Power Point presentation, you couldn't really show resolution much higher than 800x600 anyhow - - maybe 1280 x 1024 with some of the newer (and still expensive) projectors.<BR><BR>Then I went to the Uffizi - - http://www.televisual.net/uffizi/ - - and I got a slightly different perspective on your question. They have images of virtually every major holding there - - but they point out the difference between standard and high resolution (but they don't give the numbers) and you can see the difference pretty readily. To obtain the high-res images, you are asked to subscribe (25 euros annual, and it entitles you to free entry to the museum for the month after your subscription begins).<BR><BR>So, I'd be curious what you think from checking these (and/or other) online resources - - is there really any reason to accumulate your desired collection through routes OTHER THAN online?<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

Gretchen

http://www.f-expression.com/gallery.htm<BR><BR>This is a site with numerous galleries including the Uffizi. Perhaps it will be of some help. It seems to have the complete list of all paintings so you could at least ask about specific ones you want.

Rebecca

Rex, <BR><BR>Thanks for the reply. I'm gathering materials for a class to prepare high school students to sit for the College Board's Art History test. Universities give college credit to students who score well on the test. This is a wonderful course for high school students just because it provides a nice interdisciplinary experience with World History. <BR><BR>I have a very extensive list of websites that contain images of art. Most of these are jpg files. JPG files tend to be small, which is great for online use. However, saving images in jpg format results in loss of "data". <BR><BR>Files saved in a TIFF files don't result in this problem -- but those aren't found online because they tend to be huge. <BR><BR>I need to make a couple of trips to Europe before I begin to teach this course -- just to better educate myself. I don't have much formal education in Art History so I need to make sure I'm prepared. Since I'm going to be visiting the museums, it seemed a natural question to explore availablity of digial images and slides for sale. <BR><BR>While looking for a hotel and considering purchasing museum tickets, I found my way to the Uffizi web site and noted their intent to digitize their entire collection ! But there was not information about purchase. The url you sent is different from the one I was visiting -- so I'll check it out. This sounds very promising. <BR><BR>To answer your question, I'm not sure that I can get everything I need online. I've only been working on this class for a couple of months and I'm on a huge learning curve. When slides/images are purchased, I would expect them to come with information on the work that is seldom found with the images online. If I take images from a web site, I still have to find information on each piece. <BR><BR>Finally, you expressed surprise at the cost of the course. I was as well. This course hasn't been taught at my high school because of the expenses involved -- the book is right at $100. Most people actually teach Art History courses using slides because: 1) the quality of the images are better than digital 2) the cost to put an image collection together is very high -- with all the money people already have in slides, they can't afford to switch. <BR><BR>Since I'm just beginning, digital seems the best route -- <BR><BR>Thanks again for the helpful reply.

Rex

Rebecca,<BR><BR>I was worried that my post might come across as accusatory that you didnt know what you were seeking - - I certainly didnt mean it that way, and I'm glad you didnt take it as such. I was just surprised because it sounded like you were stymied (or resource-limited?) on collecting what you hope to find.<BR><BR>May I wrote to you? (or you to me)? I have greatly enjoyed trips I have taken with kids - - from as low as fifth grade up through graduating seniors in college. I have aspirations to do a bit more of this as our own children "graduate us into empty-nestdom" (this coming fall).<BR><BR>Might be worthwhile to compare notes a bit.<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex Bickers<BR>Westerville, Ohio<BR>

Randy

Rebecca:<BR><BR>I have a set of 5 CD's, "Great Museums of the World" that has many pictures. If you open up the CDs in My Computer and then open the image folder you can open each photo in your photo editing software. Go to this web site: www.emme.com, they have many available.<BR><BR>Last year when I was in the Louvre I must have taken at least 50 or 60 digital photographs of paintings and sculpture. If you would like, e-mail me and I will burn you a CD of my digital photos of the Louvre.

Kathleen

While at the Louvre last month, I found the 'Virtual Visit' on CD-ROM, for both the Louvre and the D'Orsay. The images on the CD are exportable, though I don't know what the quality of the images would be in a Powerpoint. But the CDs are great, with historical comment, tours by theme or artists--Just fabulous! I'm sure you could find these CDs somewhere on-line if you search. Or e-mail me, and I'll look on the box for info tonite.

Rebecca

Topping -<BR><BR>Thanks Kathleen, Randy and Rex. I'll check into the CDs. <BR><BR>Randy and Rex -- I'll be in touch. <BR><BR>