Archives & Library

Photo Archive Collections

The Photographic Archive are mounted reference images. There are two collections: The Paul Mellon Centre Photographic Archive and The Tate Photographic Archive. The collections cover British painting and drawing from approximately 1500 to 2000 and are particularly strong on the work of 18th-century artists. The PMCPA collection has been digitised in its entirety. The Tate collection is available to consult in our Public Study Room.

Paul Mellon Collection of Paintings

Access the Photographic Archive catalogue to browse this collection.

This series comprises images of a collection of paintings formerly owned by the American philanthropist, Paul Mellon. The collection has now been divided and paintings are owned by the following institutions: the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven; the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC; Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Richmond; and the Paul Mellon private collection. The Photographic Archive does not include images of every painting owned by Paul Mellon.

Arrangement

The photographs are exclusively black and white and remain un-mounted. The degree of information on the back varies from the artist’s name and Paul Mellon accession number to more detailed information on title, dimensions, medium and provenance. The photographs are filed in their artists files and are in A-Z order

Acquisition

Photographs were acquired from the Paul Mellon collection and The Yale Center for British Art when new acquisitions were made. Images are no longer added to the collection.

See also