More than 370,000 images from the Witt Library’s Netherlandish collection have been digitized and published. Until now, these pictures could only be accessed by visiting the Courtauld Institute of Art in London.

The publication of the Netherlandish School is part of a larger digitization project that the Courtauld began in 2017. The British and French Schools have been digitized first, with the collections of Italian, German and American pictures to follow in the coming months. The digitization and publication of all 2.1 million images in the entire Witt Library is expected to be completed in April 2025.

Founded in the 1890s by Sir Robert Witt during his undergraduate studies at Oxford, the Witt is an extensive collection of photographs, reproductions, and cuttings of paintings, drawings, and engravings of Western art from about 1200 to 2009. The collection represents a wide range of artists, including both the well-known and the lesser-known. It is one of the largest collections of its kind, comparable to the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the RKD in The Hague.

A comprehensive survey in 2013 showed that the Witt comprises 2,151,862 images in 102,995 folders, housed in 19,139 boxes. The collection occupies nearly 1.4 kilometers of shelf space, and includes works from 26 different national “schools” of art. The majority of its images are free to download and use for non-commercial purposes

Visit the Witt Library online and explore the Netherlandish School >>