To John Bryant
From Bob Wallace
October 6, 2012
Beginning of a list of metadata categories that might be used in tagging prints from Herman
Melville’s collection of art (using Dennis Berthold’s March 4, 2012 list of the MEL art group as
a starting point, augmented by adaptations from many of the categories used for image search on
the William Blake archive that Dennis had suggested we look at), with the suggestion that Sam
Otter be consulted for advice on particular kinds of print media, about which he has freshly
informed insights from examining the actual prints at the Berkshire Athenaeum:
Categories applicable to the prints as specific objects:
Artist Name
Artist dates (birth and death years)
Artist national origin (or national school)
Engraver Name
Engraver dates (birth and death years)
Engraver national origin (or national school)
Designer who drew the design the artist engraved (if different from the artist)
Title of Work
Date of Work
Date of Publication
Place of Publication
Title of series in which publication appeared (if any)
Name and date of original painting or drawing, if reproductive, from which engraving was made
Medium of original
Dates and occupation of the human subject, if a historical portrait
Medium of engraving: mezzotint, line engraving (on copper, on steel), lithograph, engraving
printed in color (or hand colored) [Sam can help expand and refine this list]
Print size (dimensions in inches / cm)
Print location (collection name and address)
Print frame (yes/no)
Print restoration (yes and date/ no)
Print provenance (owner: father/HM?; vendor; place of purchase)
MEL acquisition date
Permissions information
Categories by which the subjects of the prints might be identified (adapted from the Blake
Archive):
Figures: Types (whalers, nautical, biblical, literary, rural, urban, Polynesian, Mediterranean,
New Eastern, etc)
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Figures: Historical Characters (Innocent X, Napoleon, Plato, Socrates, etc,)
Figures: Biblical and Literary Characters (St. Paul, Lazarus, St. Cecilia, Wallenstein, Fridolin,
etc)
Landscape: mountain, desert, plain; pastoral,
Seascape: Open sea, sea shore
Actions: whaling, warfare, amatory, weddings, meditating, boating, traveling, etc.
Animals: whales, camels, dogs, cats, elephants, horses, turtles, etc.
Vegetation: trees, flowers, wooded, barren, lakeside, seaside, etc.
Objects: Art, Literature and Writing, Music (artist’s studio, brushes, writer’s study, pens, paper,
musical performance, individual instruments, etc.)
Objects: Death, Disease, and the Grave (graveyards, dying individuals, murder, monuments to
the dead, biers, sepulchers, etc.)
Objects: Furniture and Housewares (couch, table, art or maps on wall, dish, poultry, fish, bed,
drink, carpets, tapestries, etc.)
Objects: Games (skittles, bowling, cards, etc)
Geographical Features: lake, ocean, mountain, cave, river, waves, waterfall, shore
Locations (Cities, Countries, Mythic Locations): Rome, London, Jerusalem, Vienna, Edinburgh;
Switzerland, Palestine, Polynesia, Greece; Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, etc.
Architectural structures: churches, triumphal arches, gates, town halls, pastoral retreats,
monasteries, abbeys, ruins, urban decay, towers, etc.
The Sky, the Weather, Atmospheric Conditions: rays of light, bolts of lightning, storm on land,
storm at sea, lee-shore sea storms, calm, angelic presences, etc.
Transportation and vehicles: locomotives, battleships, tugboats, carriages, passenger boats,
fishing boats, whaling ships, etc.
Weapons: harpoons, guns, knives, artillery, club, shield, whip, etc.
Other objects: to be proposed.
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