About Scholars Resource

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Welcome to the SASKIA Archive

Documenting historic art and architecture for the purpose of teaching art history and the humanities has been the hallmark of the Saskia Ltd. archive since its inception in 1966. From the beginning, doctoral candidate Ronald Wiedenhoeft, at Columbia University, was acutely aware of the need to document great art in the renowned museums of Western Europe.

During the 1960s, teaching art history at US universities was at its peak with internationally noted art historians such as Rudolf Wittkower, Howard Hibbard, Julius Held, Edgar Kaufman and others teaching at Columbia University in New York City. 

With the active support from the Metropolitan Museum, Ron Wiedenhoeft and his young family spent academic summers photographing works of art in the great collections throughout Europe, including the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the Louvre, the Prado, the Uffizi in Florence, the National Museums in Athens, Stockholm, Rome and Berlin, and many others.

In 1994 Saskia Ltd. expanded its holdings by beginning to digitize its images. In 1999 Saskia began its online presence allowing universities to browse its collection through the web. In 2005, that online presence turned into Scholars Resource, which offered an even wider selection of art images, taken by other photographers, to the academic community. Over 50 years, the Saskia Ltd. archive itself grew to include 34,000 images and continues to be widely used for teaching and researching art and architecture at universities, colleges, museums and primary schools worldwide.

Saskia images are currently available as part of a subscription through Davis Art Images, and as a subscription through vrcHost.com.