Works and objects
The artwork, building, artefact or other subject described by the collection.
Intellectual entityCataloguing
A catalogue model
for visual collections
Pictoria structures works, visual documents, digital assets, agents, places and events as distinct records. Sources support descriptions, while rights govern the relevant records and assets.
Visual material requires more than one image record
The metadata model keeps the intellectual object, its visual documentation, the managed Digital Asset and its concrete files identifiable throughout cataloguing and research.
Visual documents
Photographs, negatives, slides, scans and reproductions that depict or document another entity.
RepresentationDigital assets
The descriptive record for managed visual media and its representations, connected to file custody without being reduced to a file path.
Descriptive assetPeople and places
Agents, organisations, places and events remain reusable records rather than repeated text.
Shared recordsAuthorities and vocabularies support consistent description
Each installation combines suitable external authorities with local terms justified by the collection and its research practice.
External authorities
Getty, Wikidata, Iconclass and other sources retain their identifiers, authorship and scope.
Application profiles
Fields, requirements and validation rules adapt the shared model to the collection being described.
Local vocabularies
Local concepts are reserved for demonstrated needs that available authorities do not adequately serve.