Finding Out About a Painting

• You can search for a specific painting in the online reference books at Credo and Oxford reference online. Enter the name of the painting in quotation marks

• Follow links from useful sites at Gateway>Art, architecture, crafts and design and see especially the sites mentioned below

• You can search names of paintings at the Artchive site and at the Artcyclopedia site.

• You can also search names of paintings at Artguide, a guide to the art collections of Great Britain and Ireland. If the painting is mentioned on the site, you may find out who the artist is and which gallery or museum holds it.

• If the painting could be considered an antique, you can check past auction prices at the Antiques trade gazette. Just register (free) then search in the 'Price Guide' section

• Try entering the name of the painting in quotation marks on a general search engine. Check the help-sheet Making the most of search engines for search tips

• The auction house Christie's has an Auction estimates service that provides free estimates for items that meet their criteria

• You can search for books about your artist on the library catalogue and you can check for more specialist works on the online catalogue of the National art library at the Victoria and Albert Museum. There are also general online catalogues at WebLinks > Libraries and archives

• You can search through many major art reference works at Bedford Central Library. In some books you can look up a painting by name while in others you can learn more about the artist who painted it

• The library has major encyclopaedias and dictionaries of art and artists, including the 34-volume 'Dictionary of art',  illustrated books on many individual artists and sculptors, catalogues of art works held at galleries in the UK and abroad, catalogues of Royal Academy exhibitors and a good selection of books on the arts of all countries and periods

• Dunstable Library also has the 34-volume 'Dictionary of art' as well as several other standard reference works. Other libraries have at least an encyclopaedia or dictionary of art and artists

Further information

• Library catalogue
• Contact us - for help to find information, from your local librarians
• 'Enquire' - a 24-hour chat enquiry service from the national People's Network. Local librarians take part in 'Enquire' on a rota basis but it is likely that you would be answered by a librarian from another library service