ABOUT COLLAGE

COLLAGE stands for: 'Corporation of London Library & Art Gallery Electronic'

COLLAGE is a computerised information system providing quick and easy access to large areas of Guildhall's wonderful visual collections. It invites you to explore the collections using a range of enquiry points. You can then view high quality images of the works on screen, read information about them and order colour prints and digital files.

COLLAGE has been developed and funded by the Corporation of London on the initiative of the Libraries and Art Galleries Department.

COLLAGE on the Web so far provides access to some 20,000 images from the Guildhall's main COLLAGE database of over 30,000 works. This proportion will continue to increase as more items are cleared for Internet display.

COLLAGE contains about 25,000 prints and drawings as well as over 1,000 maps from the Print Room of Guildhall Library. The collection is devoted primarily to London topography and London life from the 15th Century to the present day. All parts of London (not just the City) are included, as are the adjoining counties. Approximately 1,000 caricatures are also included.

COLLAGE also contains virtually the entire collection of Guildhall Art Gallery. This consists of some 6,000 paintings, watercolours, drawings and sculptures. These include 3,000 paintings and sketches from the studio collection of Sir Matthew Smith, the very fine collection of Dutch and Flemish 17th Century masters bequeathed by Harold Samuel, and an important collection of Victorian paintings comprising works by Millais, Rossetti and many other notable artists of the period.

Please note that COLLAGE itself is NOT comprehensive in coverage of the collections it represents. It does not include some categories of material held by the Print Room, such as many of the maps, the photograph collection, engraved portraits, playing cards, the Willshire Collection of Old Master prints, and a wide range of ephemera. From the Art Gallery COLLAGE does not include those paintings which were destroyed during World War II, and does not have images for various works on temporary loan. Some items recently acquired by both collections also have yet to be included.