Looking for collection of color accurate master paintings...

[Ian Barker]

Well I was about to do a study of Velasquez's The Forge of Vulcan, but as I looked around I noticed that there were several different color variations and I had no idea which one was correct. So I was just wondering if anyone could recommend an online gallery that generally hosts the correct master paintings?

[LostFayth]

They're all incorrect since they're all reproductions of the original. I'd say just pick your favorite and study it ;)

[arenhaus]

It's not possible to reproduce an oil painting exactly. Color will deviate, the transmissive effects in layers of paint will be dulled, and the brushwork will be lost.

Master studies should be done while looking at the original. If you don't have access to museums, then I suggest forgoing this. Photos won't help you at all.

[Qitsune]

There is no such thing as "the right color." Colors are only right relatively to the other colors in the image. So I guess if you don't take an image where the colors look wrong to you, you should be fine, since any shift in reproduction would affect all colors in the image.

[QueenGwenevere]

I've been to a lot of museums and seen a ton of originals, and I've seen a ton of reproductions, and I can tell you I have never seen a reproduction that looked like the original. The colors are always a little off, even in the best reproductions. And online it's worse, because you're dealing with all sorts of issues that come with reproducing something digitally (including differences in monitors.)

So yeah, what arenhaus said. If you can't get access to originals, master studies will be kind of pointless. Unless you're just studying the basic composition, structure, forms and lighting, or things like that - you could use a reproduction for that sort of thing. But to get an accurate idea of color, brushstrokes, texture, layers, and painting technique in general, it really helps to see the originals.

[dpaint]

Agree with everyone on this thread but having said that I find ArtRenewal.org
a great resource for large high quality images with the caveat they still suffer from all of the problems mentioned.

[Craig D]

Getting fully accurate colour is not the only, or even the primary, reason for doing a master copy though. The "drawing", composition, etc. are all very important things to pick up on and can be seen from a nice reproduction.

[Ian Barker]

Thanks for the info everyone. I don't have access to a museum so I guess I'll just have to do make do with ArtRenewal.

[Flake]

Another couple of websites for you. Nowhere near as comprehensive as ARC but might be of use.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/freeparking/collections/72157602736044384/
http://www.sandstead.com/gallery.html

[D.Labruyere]

This is a website I found recently but am very happy with:

http://www.wga.hu/

The focus is on European art between 1000-1850 and contains over 24000 reproductions.