Gilded Age industrialist and museum founder Henry Clay Frick picked up iconic works by Bellini, Vermeer and Goya, among others, from Knoedler Gallery. Who else bought what, and when, and for how much from the historic Manhattan gallery? The Getty Research Institute will tell you with free online access to almost 24,000 records from the Knoedler Gallery stock books that have been made available to the public. Books 1 through 6, dating from 1872 to 1920, can now be browsed; stock books 7 through 11 will be added soon. 

The Getty blog says, "Knoedler Gallery in New York was a central force in the evolution of an art market in the U.S. This newly enhanced database can be used to reconstruct the itineraries of thousands of paintings that crossed the Atlantic during the Gilded Age—including many that ended up in major American museums."

Knoedler's account books were acquired by the Getty in 2012, after the gallery, founded in 1848, closed during the uproar of a massive art forgery scandal.

Now scanned are records detailing Knoedler's clients, the provenance of artworks and inventory dating from the 1850s to 1971, when the gallery was acquired by Armand Hammer. The archive offers a valuable view into collecting tastes along with the history of art, and its pricing, from the more opaque gallery market.

View the Knoedler stock books here.