Walters Art Museum Open Access: Illuminated Manuscripts and Ancient Art, Free to Use

The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland is one of America's most distinguished art museums, holding a collection of more than 36,000 objects spanning 55 centuries of human artistic production. The museum has been a pioneer in the open access movement, providing free access to over 10,000 high-resolution images from its collection under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) licence, with a particular emphasis on its extraordinary holdings of illuminated manuscripts, ancient art, and medieval and Renaissance objects.

The Walters Art Museum was founded by William T. Walters and his son Henry Walters, who assembled one of the most remarkable private art collections in American history over the course of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Henry Walters bequeathed the collection to the City of Baltimore in 1931, and the museum has continued to develop and share the collection in the decades since, with the open access program representing the most recent and most significant step in making the collection accessible to the widest possible audience.

The Illuminated Manuscript Collection

The illuminated manuscript collection is the Walters' most celebrated holding and the area where its open access program provides the most distinctive and valuable resource. The collection includes more than 900 illuminated manuscripts spanning more than a millennium of manuscript production, from early Christian manuscripts of the fifth and sixth centuries through the elaborate Books of Hours and devotional manuscripts of the fifteenth century.

The Books of Hours are the most numerous and varied category in the collection, with examples from France, Flanders, Italy, and other centres of manuscript production covering the full range of styles and quality levels from modest workshop productions through the most elaborate and technically accomplished examples of the genre. The high-resolution images available through the open access program allow detailed study of the specific techniques used by medieval illuminators, including the application of gold leaf, the preparation of pigments, and the specific brushwork techniques used to create the miniature paintings that are the most celebrated aspect of illuminated manuscripts.

The Byzantine manuscripts are another area of exceptional strength, with examples covering the full range of Byzantine manuscript production from the ninth through the fifteenth centuries. The Byzantine manuscript collection is particularly valuable for artists and scholars who study the specific iconographic and stylistic traditions of Byzantine art, which differ significantly from the Western European traditions that are more widely represented in other collections.

The Islamic manuscripts provide access to the extraordinary tradition of Islamic manuscript illumination, with examples from Persia, Turkey, and other centres of Islamic manuscript production. The Islamic manuscript collection is particularly valuable for artists and designers who work with Islamic decorative traditions and who want to study the specific geometric and floral patterns that characterise Islamic manuscript illumination.

The Ancient Art Collection

The ancient art collection covers the full range of ancient Mediterranean civilisations, with major holdings of Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Near Eastern art. The collection is particularly strong in ancient jewellery and small-scale decorative objects, with extraordinary examples of ancient goldsmithing, gem carving, and other luxury arts.

The Egyptian collection includes major works from every period of Egyptian history, from the predynastic period through the Ptolemaic era. The collection is particularly strong in amulets, shabtis, and other small-scale objects that document the religious and funerary practices of ancient Egypt, alongside major works in stone and bronze.

The Greek and Roman collection covers the full range of ancient Greek and Roman artistic production, with major works in marble, bronze, terracotta, and other materials. The collection is particularly strong in ancient gems and cameos, with an extraordinary collection of engraved stones that documents the full range of ancient gem-cutting traditions.

The Medieval and Renaissance Collection

The medieval and Renaissance collection covers the full range of European artistic production from the early medieval period through the sixteenth century, with major works in painting, sculpture, ivory, enamel, and other media. The collection is particularly strong in medieval ivory carvings and enamel work, with extraordinary examples of these luxury arts from the major centres of medieval production.

The Renaissance paintings include major works by Italian, Flemish, and German painters of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, providing access to the full range of Renaissance painting traditions. The collection is particularly strong in small-scale devotional paintings and portraits, which are among the most technically accomplished works in the collection.

The Search Interface

The Walters Art Museum's online collection provides an excellent search interface that allows browsing and searching across the full open access collection. The search allows filtering by period, medium, culture, and other parameters, making it possible to find images relevant to specific research or creative needs.

Each work's page includes detailed information about the work's history, provenance, dimensions, and condition, alongside the downloadable image. The download process is straightforward, with each work's page providing a direct download link for the highest resolution version available.

Practical Uses for Artists

For illustrators who work with medieval or Renaissance subjects, the Walters' illuminated manuscript collection provides an extraordinary range of reference material covering medieval costume, architecture, and daily life as depicted by contemporary artists. The high-resolution images allow detailed study of the specific techniques used by medieval illuminators, providing insights into techniques that are not easily accessible from reproductions in books.

For designers who work with medieval or Byzantine decorative traditions, the collection provides an extraordinary range of reference material covering the specific patterns, motifs, and colour combinations that characterise these traditions.

The Bottom Line

The Walters Art Museum Open Access program provides free, unrestricted access to over 10,000 high-resolution images from one of America's most distinguished art collections, with particular strength in illuminated manuscripts, ancient art, and medieval and Renaissance objects. For artists, designers, researchers, and educators who need high-quality imagery from these areas of art history, the Walters' open access collection is an essential and genuinely extraordinary resource.