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Art Theorists of the Italian Renaissance

on stand-alone CD-ROM PC

• Introduction
• Access to Art Theorists of the Italian Renaissance (ATIR)
• Help
• Searching and browsing
• Displaying results
• Saving and printing records
• Ending your search
• Title list

• Academic Liaison Librarian: Clare White 
  

Introduction

Art Theorists of the Italian Renaissance (ATIR) is a collection of the leading treatises on art and architecture written between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries, including all the illustrations and diagrams and editors notes. Where possible these texts are provided in Latin, Italian and English.

The aim has been to cover all widely-studied works including the first and second editions of Vasari's Lives and a selection of rare works. First or early editions are preferred and translations are from the period, except for a 1912-15 translation of Vasari's Lives and a 1907 translation of the introductory section On Technique because no reliable contemporary translations exist.

The database is structured around Giorgio Vasari's Lives of the Artists, which provides biographical information about artists, descriptions of paintings and other works, explanations of the processes of creating works of art and information about provenance. The accompanying treatises explore many of the elements referred to in Lives and can be read as early examples of art criticism and as a source of contextual information about the period.

ATIR offers new opportunities to specialisms such as iconography and patronage. You can trace concepts and words throughout all the texts or within specific parameters such as the works of particular authors or those published within a particular period. For example, you can now compare different interpretations of the architectural orders very quickly.

A list of all the works included on the database is provided at the Title list.

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Access to ATIR

This title is only accessible from the stand-alone PC in the JB Morrell Library.

• Insert the ATIR CD into the CD drive.
• Wait until the drive light stops flashing, then click on Art Theorists of the Italian Renaissance from the menu provided.
• At this point you will be presented with a prompt, choose Run disk from current location.
• A security warning will appear, ignore this and click on Yes.
• You will now be at the Art Theorists of the Italian Renaissance welcome page

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Help

The Help menu item provides more information on using the database. The icon  provides in context help.

Use the icons at the top of the screen to move backwards and forwards between full text and summaries and from previous hits to next hits.

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Searching and browsing

You are shown the Standard Search screen immediately. You can search using keyword (any word or phrase in the text of a work), title, author, genre (16 generic descriptions from antiquities to iconography to visual arts), language and date.

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Displaying results

Results are displayed in a Brief Summary of Matches. From here you can view the full text or view the context of individual matches. There is also additional information associated with some records, including hyperlinks, notes, tables and figures. Hyperlinks at chapter level enable you to move between original editions and their translations. Double click on the appropriate icon from the Full Text window.

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Saving and printing records

Use the Save  icon at the top of the screens.

To save the Summary of Matches, highlight the Author/Title(s) you are interested in and then click on the Save icon.

To save from the Full Text window you need to highlight the text you wish to save before clicking on the Save icon.

Available drives:

You may save either to a floppy disk (drive A:) or to a zip disk (drive E:).

The stand-alone CD-ROM PC is not attached to a printer. You will need to take your downloaded files on your floppy or zip disk to a networked classroom or office PC to print.

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Ending your search

Select Exit from the File menu and click on OK to confirm.

Remove the CD from the drive by pressing the eject button under the CD drive. Wait while it opens, then carefully remove the CD and place it back in the container.

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Title list

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