• Photographs of every work discussed
• Provenance (where the work has been) for every individual work
• List of the literature ("literaturverzeichnis") that discusses the work
• Size of every work
• Condition reports of every work
• Disputed, questionable and spurious works
• Introductory essay discussion of the artist's life (generally shorter than a whole monograph on the artist)
• Example signatures
• Indices, listing each work:
• By its current location (city/museum)
• By its previous owners
• By the scholars who have commented on it

Often paintings, prints or drawings only (or sculpture, ceramics, etc., if appropriate) are discussed in a particular catalogue, and sometimes only a certain period of the artist's life is covered.

It contains most of the information a researcher will need up to the year the catalogue raisonné was printed. In particular they are important references for attributions — which paintings are actually by a given artist.

A catalogue raisonné may be regarded as the prime source of information about an artist's work, and allows one to see the full range of work in sequence.

Because artwork can be widely distributed, and some owners may not wish for high-quality images to be made available, some photographic reproductions of works may be only in black and white and/or small in size. Works since destroyed may exist only as old photographs or prints.

Catalogues raisonnés are typically expensive to produce because of the sheer volume of pages and photographic reproductions required, and generally have a limited market. Thus, they usually carry a high price and are rarely reprinted.

The term catalogue raisonné is French, meaning "reasoned catalogue" (i.e., containing arguments for the information given, such as attributions) and has wide usage in English. Accordingly, the spelling is never Americanized to "catalog", even in the United States.

References

• ArtLex Art Dictionary on catalogue raisonné
• Collector's Corner: The Catalogue Raisonne: Identifying Fine-Art Prints
• FAQ, placing the Catalogue Raisonné in context with other types of art catalogues.

Recommended books

• Judging the Authenticity of Prints by The Masters: A Primer for Collectors by David Rudd Cycleback

External links

• The Catalogue Raisonné Scholars Association
• The Print Council of America on-line database of Catalogues Raisonnés for prints
• N.C. Wyeth Catalogue Raisonné An online catalogue raisonné from the Brandywine River Museum
• Richard Diebenkorn Catalogue Raisonné An in-progress catalogue raisonné
• Online Picasso Project An in-progress catalogue raisonné