Reference materials can provide basic background information on your topic and help you identify keywords for further searching; for example, the names of important artists or art theorists, materials, or events. Some also contain topical essays that can be excellent introductions to a particular subject or time period.
Many reference resources provide bibliographies at the end of each entry or volume, which will point you to additional books, exhibit catalogs, and journal articles worth exploring.
Core reference source for fine arts. Searchable images made available through Oxford's partnerships with museums, galleries, and arts organizations.
The Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists by 
These sources provide biographical information on artists, art movements and iconography.
Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World
The e-encyclopedia offers good overviews of art and culture in Renaissance Europe.
New Catholic Encyclopedia 2nd Edition
This resource is "prized for its scholarly presentation of persons and subjects related to Catholicism and the humanities."
New Dictionary of the History of Ideas
This fully-searchable reference document encapsulates the thinking of different eras and cultures.
Encyclopedia of European Social History
Also in Print in: LOWER LEVEL REF HN373 .E63 2001.
Covering the period from the beginning of the Renaissance to the present, this encyclopedia consists of 209 signed articles and nearly 300 biographical entries. The set is thoroughly indexed and amply illustrated.
The Encyclopedia of Italian Renaissance and Mannerist Art by
These two alphabetically arranged volumes cover the major artistic developments in Italy from circa 1300 to circa 1600, a period that marks the Renaissance (or rebirth) of the humanistic spirit of classical antiquity. It is the period in which some of the most famous artists of all time were active, including Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo. Beginning with transitional Late Gothic artists such as Giotto, the biographies trace the evolution of new modes of artistic expression, from scientific naturalism and the development of linear perspective to the exploration of new secular themes derived from Classical literature and mythology. All three phases of Renaissance art are covered, early, high and late (the latter period also known as Mannerist). Besides biographies on all types of artists, from painters, illuminators, sculptors and architects to printmakers and maiolica designers, patrons and collectors, there are entries on styles such as "all'antica", important art forms such as "cassone", cities such as Siena, Florence, Perugia, Venice and in-depth surveys of all the fine and decorative art forms in Italy during the Renaissance and Mannerist periods.
Renaissance Art : A Topical Dictionary by
This dictionary is a quick and useful reference source for identifying and understanding the Renaissance art of Italy and northern Europe. Arranged in alphabetical sequence, the more than eight hundred entries provide basic information about topics that were common subjects in painting, sculpture, and decorative arts of the period. Additionally, entries on characteristic schools, techniques, media, and other terminology have been included as background information as well as to provide an art history vocabulary necessary for comprehending or clarifying certain topics. Supplemental information on various related topics is cross-referenced for easy access, and the reader is provided with an even more complete location of topics and other entries with see references and a subject index. As an aid to further study, a list of northern and Italian Renaissance artists, which includes life dates and nationalities, has been included. A bibliography is also provided for further reference.
Renaissance Artists and Antique Sculpture
A carefully-annotated, well-illustrated index of material prerequisite to studying the range of problems and complexities of analysis accompanying any examination of the Renaissance appreciation of antiquity.