A curatorial file is begun with information gathered from curators, donors, and the registrar once an object is accessioned into the collection. Materials from other Gallery offices, including the curatorial, registrarial, and loan departments, the library, the press office, and others, are regularly assimilated into the curatorial files. The department does not keep files on the Gallery's works on paper, objects on loan to the Gallery, or non-Gallery objects in temporary special exhibitions. Complete provenance, exhibition history, and bibliographic information compiled from National Gallery of Art collection catalogues and materials in the curatorial files is available on Leonardo for over one-third of the paintings in the Gallery, while partial information in these categories is available for all objects in the database. Biographies and bibliographies of collection artists, donors, previous owners, and portrait sitters are also accessible through the database.
New information is added to the scholarly portions of the database on a daily basis.
Curatorial records staff will gladly respond to research inquiries specific to the collections of the National Gallery of Art and provide additional information about documents in the curatorial files. Questions about the information on the Leonardo database or requests for searches of the database that are more complicated than those possible through the National Gallery's web site may also be directed to this office. The National Gallery of Art cannot provide appraisals of monetary value for works of art.