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| Help About / Search / Browse Selections / Help / Display Options / Sorting / Navigation / Related Records / Printing About The About page describes the CAP Portrait Search. The reference records of the Catalog of American Portraits (CAP) include portraits found in public and private collections across the U.S. in addition to portraits in the NPG collections. The Biographical Search option allows users to search for portrait sitter and artist records by names, life dates, and biographical keywords before linking to the works of art. The Browse Selections option offers groups of portrait records with accompanying images representing various themes for browsing. Search Click the Search bar in the main left menu column to search for specific records. Quick Search Quick Search searches only Sitter and Artist names (not distinguished by the roles of Sitter or Artist) and portrait titles. To search for portrait records, pick which set of records you wish to search by clicking in the circle for: CAP objects (default) This option includes reference records for portraits found in public and private collections across the U.S. in addition to portraits in the NPG collections. In Quick Search, you may search CAP objects, including objects in the NPG collections, by entering Sitter or Artist names or portrait titles in the search box. Sitters and Artists This option will limit your search results to Sitter and Artist biographical records; however, you may link to related objects from the sitter and artists records. After choosing the set of data you wish to search, enter a sitter or artist name or portrait title in the search box and click on the Search button. Click the Find objects with images only box if you wish to limit your search to objects with images. Most objects with images are in the NPG collections. Users must contact the owners for images of works recorded in the Catalog of American Portraits.Advanced Search Use the Advanced Search options to search Sitters and/or Artists separately (distinguished by the roles of Sitter or Artist), titles, object or biographical keywords, classifications, media, dates, departments, or reference numbers, or any combination of these criteria. From the Quick Search page, choose from the advanced search options listed on the page or from the left menu options: CAP Portrait Search Reference records for portraits found in public and private collections across the U.S. in addition to portraits in the NPG collections Biographical Search Sitter and Artist biographical records Once on the advanced search page, use the help popup at the end of each search menu field to assist you in entering the search criteria properly.
Click the Find objects with images only box if you wish to limit your search to objects with images. Most objects with images are in the NPG collections. Users must contact the owners for images of works recorded in the Catalog of American Portraits.
The keyword search, find term, provides a hierarchical thesaurus for retrieving portraits by principal biographical distinctions such as "Chemist/Scientist/Science and Technology" and certain cultural affiliations such as "Chiricahua/Apache/Southwest/American Indian/Native American." Keywords are also searchable by portrait settings such as "Battleground/Landscape/Exterior" and by objects depicted such as "Watch/Jewelry/Clothing and Apparel." More than 2000 keywords are available for searching.
In advanced search, you may enter up to five criteria at a time. To execute your search, click the search button at the top right or bottom right of the page. Browse Selections Click the Browse Selections bar in the main left menu to see pre-selected groupings of objects to highlight aspects of the database or to illustrate various themes. Click on an underlined title on the Browse Selections page to see the group of object records. Help Click the Help bar in the main left menu for general help in using the CAP Portrait Search. This help page describes the menus, search functions, browse functions, display options, sort options, navigation, and links. On the search pages, use the help popup at the end of each menu field to assist you in entering the search criteria properly.
Display Options After running a search or opening a selection to browse, you can view results in three different ways:
Sorting Records displayed in text list can be sorted three ways: Title or Name (default) The text list is sorted in alphabetical order by the last name of the sitter or by the title of the portrait if the title is other than the sitter's name (i.e., portraits of George Washington will sort under Washington except for titled works such as Apotheosis of Washington which will sort under A). Artist/Maker Name The text list is sorted in alphabetical order by the last name of the artist/maker. Date The text list is sorted by the date of the work's creation. In many cases the date of the work may be a circa or span date. In such cases, the date is sorted by the earliest beginning date. Circa usually means five years before and five years after the displayed date. Click on the column heading at the top of the text list to sort the results.Navigation The menu bars at the left of the screen, About, Search, Browse Selections, and Help, offer the main navigation for the CAP Portrait Search. The title at the top of each page identifies the function of the page. After a search is executed or a selection is chosen for browsing, the titles for the resulting pages display the context for the group of records you are viewing. For instance, if you perform an advanced search for CAP Portraits, check images only, and enter Andrew Jackson as the sitter's name for the search criteria, the resulting pages will be titled: CAP Search Results / (with image only), Sitter contains andrew jackson At the upper and lower right corners of every results page, the count of records displayed on the page is specified and the total number of records in the results set is displayed: On the line below the results count, you have options for moving through the record set. Click previous or next to move forward or backward one page at a time. Or click on a page number to select a particular page. The page number you are currently viewing is highlighted. Click first to go back to the beginning or last to go directly to the end. If you have a large number of results, you can also click +10 to move forward by 10 pages at a time. At the bottom left of every results page, you have the option of changing your record selection by clicking on Run a new search > Related Records Underlined names and terms on the results pages are hyperlinked to related records. If you click on the underlined sitter's name in the text list of objects, you will link to the detailed record for that object. If you click on the sitter or artist name from the detailed object record, you will link to the sitter or artist biographical record. From the biographical record, you can click on browse related portraits > and link to all portraits related to that individual. For instance, if you are viewing a detailed record for a portrait of Andrew Jackson by Thomas Sully, simply click on the underlined name of the artist, Thomas Sully, and you will link to the biographical record for Thomas Sully. From the biographical record for Sully, click on browse related portraits > and you will link to all the portraits by Thomas Sully. Keywords are also hyperlinked. For instance, if you are viewing the biographical record for Andrew Jackson, President of US is listed under Keywords. If you click on President of US, you will link to a listing of all of the US Presidents. If you are viewing a detailed object record, and Globe is a keyword because a globe is depicted in the painting, click on the term Globe and you will link to all of the portraits in which a globe is depicted. By clicking on these links, you can explore the database, following paths that interest you. Click on Return to original selection at the bottom left of the results page to return to your original search results or browse selection. In some cases the names of owning institutions are underlined and linked to the owner's website. For instance, if the owner of a portrait is listed asSmithsonian American Art Museum, the link will take you to their web home page. From there you can search their collections for further information and images of their works. Printing Change your Page Setup to Landscape to print all pages from the CAPPortrait Search database. |
View as text list (default) Text list shows you a list of records with very basic information and no images. If an image is available, a camera icon is displayed at the left of the record.
View 1 record at a time Viewing one record at a time will provide full details for the object record as well as underlined links to related records. A preview image of the object will appear to the right of the text if an image is available.
View 9 images at a time If images are available, they will appear nine images to a page with the object title as caption. Most objects with images are in the NPG collections. Users must contact the owners for images of works recorded in the Catalog of American Portraits.