Georgetown Law
Georgetown Law Library

Art Law Research Guide

This guide provides an introduction to notable resources for conducting art law research available at Georgetown University and online.

Government Entities

Professional Associations, Organizations & Institutes

Provenance Research

IFAR explains, "the ownership history of a work of art is of fundamental importance for all those involved in the collecting, exhibiting and study of art, for determining both attribution as well as legal title." 

Researching the provenance of a work of art (the origin and history of ownership), is complex and requires the use of a range of resources and tools.  While this topic is mostly outside the scope of this research guide, a few resources that may help you begin are below:

Images of Art

Other Research Guides

The Georgetown has a number of other resources that are relevant to art law research, such as:

For a list of all the law library's research guides, see Research > Research Guides on our website.

There are other guides on art and art law research that may also be useful, such as those listed below. However, you may have to search our catalog or contact the reference desk to see if the resources discussed therein are available at Georgetown.