ECIT:
Electronic Compendium of (Art) Images and Text

Database Design and Implementation

As the analyst confronts the art historian's work, the initial goal is to identify the domains of knowledge therein comprising the significant aspects as far as the construction of a database.

• (1) The primary entity is the art work, generalized as the artifact. We use "artifact" in the most general sense, as some product of human activity, and so can include geographic entities such as cities, nations, bibliographic references as well as altarpieces, paintings and chapels. This all-inclusiveness is actually useful in locating items geographically.
• (2) The second entity is the set of agents; people, as individuals or groups, who are instrumental in some direct or indirect way in the production of the artefact. Artists, sculptors, patrons, students and teachers reside in this concept along with mythological or historical figures comprising the subject matter of the works.
• (3) As the works are subjected to the historian's analysis, details are isolated that have some particular visual significance. Termed the iconographic domain, these are collected under the rubric "content."
• (4) The broader cultural and historical references, the iconology of the study, within the database are enumerated within the domain is termed the "context" of the study.

These domains comprise the four entities, the tables in database language. Again, it should be stressed that the goal here is not to produce an exhaustive inventory of artifacts, nor was the intent to capture all data about any work or person. Having identified the four significant entities in the study, the next task is to identify those attributes of the entities that are determined significant. Below, we list with each database entity ,the set of attributes we have judged useful in the application. A fifth entity/table defines the relationships between the four major domains.

• (1) ARTIFACT: Thus the attribute list that is used to describe an artifact is limited to: Š type. All artefacts are typed according to a home brewed taxonomy of the order, "painting", "sculpture", "manuscript", etc. Š title. The name by which the artifact is commonly known. Š date(s) of construction. A simple dating scheme that only attempts to capture the beginning and end dates of the main construction. Š creator. The identification of the primary creative agent, if known.
• (2) PEOPLE: Agents are simply described through: Š name. The notion of "first" and "last" names is historically recent, some attempt has been made to adhere to it where feasible. Š dates. Birth and death dates where known.
• (3) CONTENT: Content entries are denoted by: Š
  • type. All content entries are typed - 'iconographic element,' 'design element' for instance. Š
  • description. A text field descriptor, e.g. '"the peplos (classical costume)" as an example of .'iconographic element"
• (4) CONTEXT: Context entries are denoted by: Š
  • type. All context entries are typed - 'liturgical feast,' 'historical event' for instance. Š
  • description. A text field descriptor, e.g. "the feast of the Assumption" as an example of a .'liturgical feast." Links The fifth domain, the link table, supplies the mechanism whereby many-to-many relationships are made possible. Its structure binds two items in any of the above four tables in a generic source/target relationship. Any item in any table may have as many links as desired; an artist, for instance, may have been employed by many partons, a patron may have been the employer of many artists.
• (5) LINK: Link attributes are: Š
  • source table identifier.
    "artifact", "people", "content" or "context." Š
  • source item identifier.
    unique row identifier of item in source table. Š target table identifier. "artifact", "people", "content" or "context." Š
  • target item identifier.
    unique row identifier of item in target table. Š
  • link type.
    within the source/target binding, the linktype specifies the nature of the relationship between source and target items, e.g. an artifact may be related to another as a "diagram of" that artifact; a person related to another through the "patron/employee" link. artifacts where juxtaposition has to be in relative sizes.