Categories for the Description of Works of Art

DEFINITION

The titles or names given to a work of art, architecture, or group, as well as the type of title, and the dates when the title was valid.

SUBCATEGORIES

3.1. Title Text 🔺
3.2. Title Type
3.3. Preference
3.4. Title Language
3.5. Title Date
- 3.5.1. Earliest Date
- 3.5.2. Latest Date
3.6. Remarks
3.7. Citations
- 3.7.1. Page
Examples

GENERAL DISCUSSION

This category is considered core, even when a work has only a name and no proper title, because it is critical to always have a name by which to refer to the work. The category is also useful for retrieval, even though it is a free-text field.

What is a title?

This category records both titles and names that serve as titles. It records titles in the traditional Western sense, that is, descriptive phrases that refer to the iconographical subject or theme of the art work, such as Adoration of the Magi, or Portrait of Thomas Jefferson. It also records names of objects, architecture, or groups that do not have a title per se. Such names could include the object type of the work (e.g., Ceramic Bowl) or the dedication or name of a building (e.g., Saint Paul’s Cathedral).

Titles can be descriptive, such as Perspective View of the Old Testament Portal from the North Transept, Chartres Cathedral, or figurative, such as After Rain in the Magic Garden. They can refer to religious subjects, such as The Annunciation [Figure 28], or to mythical or literary subjects, such as Farewell of Telemachus and Eucharis [Figure 6], or to historical events, such as Battle of the Little Big Horn. It is also possible, especially in contemporary art, for a work to be called Untitled. Use Untitled only when this is the name assigned by the artist or repository.

Decorative objects, non-Western art, archaeological works, or groups are often known by a name rather than by a title (e.g., Chandelier [Figure 4] or Rolltop Desk [Figure 13], Mask, or Portfolio of Sketches). Such names are sometimes based on classification terms or object types. They may also be modified by phrases that serve to identify and briefly describe the work itself. These names or terms therefore perform the same distinguishing function as a title.

Object types or names can be used in combination with other information as titles. They may include literary references, such as the Culprit Fay (mirror-frame).¹ They can also include references to their owners, or the places where they were used, such as the Burghley Bowl, ² the Leinster Service,³ the Lansdowne Herakles [Figure 5], or the Sears Tower. Object names can simply be descriptions, such as Lidded Bowl on Stand [Figure 1]. Names may refer to the geographic location of the object or building, such as Siena Cathedral.

Some works, such as manuscripts, may be known by an appellation based on a particular numbering system, such as Harley 609.

Titles or names given to works of art may have a particular meaning for the artist; therefore, accurately transcribe the wording, language, punctuation, and idiom in an artist’s title. In some cases, the title assigned to a work by the artist provides essential insight into the meaning of the work.

A significant change in a work’s title or name can often indicate an art-historical discovery. For example, when the subject of a drawing was correctly identified, its title changed from Study for a Female Figure Holding a Sword to Study for Fame Revealing Cardinal Richelieu.⁴

Cataloging rules

For the subcategories in this section, basic recommendations and discussion are provided below. For a fuller, more prescriptive set of cataloging rules for some of the subcategories, see “Title” in “Chapter 1: Object Naming” in Cataloging Cultural Objects (CCO), which deals with a critical subset of the CDWA.

RELATED CATEGORIES and ACCESS

The subcategory Title Text (3.1) is a Primary Access Point. Searching on the title or name of a work is a common way to retrieve it. As different works often have the same title, searches should be qualified by information from other categories. Names and titles are used to identify a particular work of art or architecture. However, as many works can have the same title, such as Madonna and Child, titles must be combined with other categories of information, including Current Location (21) and Creation (4).

Researchers may also want to use the title of a group of works or a series title, such as Marcel Duchamp’s Prière de Toucher, to assemble all the single works that were once part of this collective work.

3.1. Title Text 🔺

DEFINITION

Titles, identifying phrases, or names given to a work of art, architecture, or material culture. For complex works, series, or collections, the title may refer to a discrete unit within the larger entity (a print from a series, a photograph in a collection, a panel from a fresco cycle, a builting within a temple complex) or it may identify only the larger entity (series, collection, cycle) itself.

EXAMPLES

Venus and Cupid
Les Adieux de Télémaque et Eucharis [Figure 6]
The Farewell of Telemachus and Eucharis [Figure 6]
Polyptych with Saint James Major, Madonna and Child, and various Saints [Figure 2]
Virgin of the Rocks
La vierge à l’hostie
Battle of Little Big Horn
Adoration of the Magi [Figure 24]
Portrait Study of a Man [Figure 32]
Portrait of a Halberdier (Francesco Guardi?) [Figure 8]
Queen Dedes as Prajnaparamita
Eight Scenes of the Xiao-Xiang Rivers
Sketches and Studies after Roman tombs
Site Plan for the Opera at the Placedu Palais Royal, Paris
Sculptural Group of Two Griffins Attacking a Fallen Doe
Male Torso
Noli me tangere
The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even
Death and Fire
Nave Nave Mahana
Asante Figurative Goldweight
Lidded Bowl on Stand [Figure 1]
Finger-Ring Amulet
Chandelier [Figure 4]
Untitled
Number One
Empire State Building
Santa Maria Novella
MS Ludwig XV

DISCUSSION and GUIDELINES

Required: Record at least one title or name for the work, group of works, collection, or series. If a work has been known by multiple titles or names, include them in repeating instances of this subcategory.

Specificity

Titles should generally be concise and specific to the work. A preferred descriptive title should be concise (e.g., from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, Maiolica Plate with Profile Bust), but an alternate title may include more details (e.g., Maiolica Plate with Running Plant Border and Geometric Panels on Well; in the Center, Profile Bust of a Man in Armor).

Form and syntax

Record titles and names in title case, not sentence case. Maintain consistent capitalization, punctuation, and syntax in titles across the database where possible. Capitalize proper names in the title. For titles derived from authoritative sources, follow the capitalization and punctuation of the source. For constructed titles in English, capitalize the first word and all nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, and subordinate conjunctions; use lower case for articles, coordinate conjunctions, and prepositions, unless they are the first word of the title. For titles in other languages, follow capitalization rules of that language.

For the preferred title, avoid abbreviations. Include common abbreviations in alternate titles to provide access. Generally avoid initial articles, unless it is commonly used and confusion could result if it were omitted (e.g., La Vierge). For the preferred title, use the language of the catalog record, except when the title is commonly expressed in another language (e.g., Noli me tangere). Include translations of the title in other languages, if known.

Preferred title

One title for each work must be flagged as preferred. For the preferred title, use a concise descriptive title in the language of the catalog record, if possible. The preferred title should be a recent title provided by the owning institution, a concise inscribed title, or a title provided by the artist, if known and if it is sufficiently descriptive. Construct a descriptive title if necessary. Flag the preferred title; see Preference (3.3) below.

Exception: If the work is commonly known by a title, use that title as preferred, even if it is not descriptive. However, a descriptive title is still required and should be flagged with Title Type (3.2) “descriptive.”

In brief: Give precedence to owning institution’s and artist’s titles when choosing a preferred title. However, if these titles are not descriptive, they should be flagged as preferred, but a separate non-preferred descriptive title should be created and flagged Descriptive.

Types of titles

Include the following types of titles. Label them appropriately using Title Type (3.2).

Descriptive title: The descriptive title must convey to the user what the work is or what its subject is about. Also record the subject in Subject Matter (16). If the repository title or another title is descriptive, the cataloger need not construct one. If the preferred title is not descriptive and in the language of the catalog record, it is required to also display the descriptive title to end-users.
Inscribed title: Include any title that was applied to the work by the creator with the apparent purpose of giving it a title. If the inscribed title is not descriptive, it need not be the preferred title, but it should be included as an alternate title. For prints and books, record any title inscribed in the printing plate or on the title page (e.g., Cabinet des Beaux Arts [Figure 34]). For books, it is customary to make the inscribed title preferred; however, if the inscribed title is not descriptive, a desctiptive title should also be included. The inscribed title may also be recorded with other inscriptions in the Inscriptions/Marks (8) category.
Creator’s and repository’s titles: Include any titles assigned to the work by the creator or by the repository.
Collective titles: In general, avoid putting two titles in the same title field. If the work is part of a series or other larger whole, if possible catalog both the part and the whole separately; a link between the two related records would allow for a display of both titles in the record for the part. However, if it is not possible to catalog both the part and the whole, include the title for the larger whole in the title (e.g., Le Cheval Rayé from the Les Anciennes Indes [Figure 25]). If the parts of a work are not cataloged separately, include the titles of two or more parts in the same title field (e.g., Two Standing Male Figures (recto); A Reclining Figure, Two Partial Figures (verso)).

Constructing a title

If a title must be constructed, it may include the following types of content:

Iconography: Where appropriate, list named religious, mythological, literary, historical, or allegorical themes or subjects (e.g., Battle of Little Big Horn or Shiva and his Consorts).
Proper names: Include named or anonymous figures, other works, or places depicted in the work, using proper names, if known (e.g., Plan and Elevation of the Houses of Parliament, London or Portrait of Abraham Lincoln ).
Work type: For decorative works, utilitarian works, archaeological works, architecture, or groups of works that do not have a title per se, include a descriptive phrase or name based on work types or a brief physical description the work (e.g., Silver Chocolate Pot). The work type may be combined with the names of iconographical or other themes (e.g., Vessel with Zeus Chasing the Trojan Prince Ganymede).
Owners: Where appropriate, record a title that includes the names of current or former owners, a current or former location, or other historical references (e.g., Bayeux Tapestry).
Architecture: For architecture, record a descriptive name, a name that refers to the owner, a dedication (e.g., for a church), or a street address, as appropriate. Many buildings do not have names, in which case the title may refer to the work type (e.g., Amphitheater) or it may be a longer descriptive phrase. For manuscripts or other works, if appropriate, record an appellation based on a particular numbering system, such as a “shelfmark” (e.g., British Museum Harley 2788).
Unknown titles: For works for which a title must be constructed, but where the work type and purpose are unknown, construct a descriptive title using any generic information available (e.g., Abstract Composition). Do not use the word “Untitled” as a title unless the work has intentionally been called Untitled by the creator.

TERMINOLOGY/FORMAT

Free-text: This is not a controlled field. If there is important information in the title, such as Object/Work Type (1.2), Subject Matter (16), etc., index this information in the pertinent controlled subcategory elsewhere in the record.

RELATED CATEGORIES and ACCESS

If the title includes the type of work, repeat it in the Object/Work (1) subcategory. Its parts should be listed in Components/Parts (1.4). Classification terms in the title may also be recorded in Classification (2.1). Inscribed titles should be transcribed with other inscriptions in the Inscriptions/Marks (8) category. The subject of the work whose title is given here is recorded in Subject Matter (16).