A major new release of Art Authority for iPad is now available in the App Store, in conjunction with availability of Apple’s new iOS 9. Art Authority 4.10 takes advantage of iOS 9’s greatly enhanced Spotlight search capabilities to let you use Spotlight search to find artists, locations and periods within the app, and to jump directly into the app at the associated show.

This new Spotlight capability will also make it easier to take advantage of the other major new feature in Art Authority 4.10: the addition of over 200 new artists, bringing the total to well over 1300. And these are not just any old artists. We’ve been engaged for almost a year now in an Internet-based scientific study to rate and rank the western world’s most important painters. The study is ongoing, but the 200+ new artists are the first results.

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Spotlight search

Spotlight searching has been part of iOS for a long time, but in iOS 9 it can do a whole lot more, including searching within apps that provide the needed support. Just swipe to the right on the home screen (or down from any icon, as in iOS 8) to get to the Spotlight search screen.

Then start typing in your search, and results will appear. Art Authority indexes all of its 1300+ artists and 800+ locations through Spotlight, along with its eight major period rooms.

Tapping on any Art Authority result automatically switches to the app and takes you right to the show on that result.

Art Authority for iPad 4.10 also supports another iOS 9 search-related feature called Universal Links. If you have the app installed, and tap on various links to our community web site (such as one to van Gogh, or the Louvre, or the Baroque period), instead of going to the site, you’ll go to the appropriate place in the app instead, just as with Spotlight search.

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New artists (and more!)

Since the first day of the App Store in 2008, Art Authority has endeavored to help users explore the western art world through a carefully curated set of period highlights, artists, and works of art. We have based that curation on various types of Internet analysis, in concert with more traditional art history sources. The procedure for choosing which artists to include, however, has always been somewhat ad hoc and not documented or repeatable. In other words we really couldn’t be sure we were including the most important artists. We probably missed some, and some “less important” artists probably snuck in. (We of course do realize that the term “important” is quite a weighted one, since what is important to some may not be so to others. That is in fact one of the main reasons for our study, to come up with as objective a definition of “important” as we could.)

Since the beginning of the year, we have been engaged in a study to objectively rate and rank the western world’s top painters. And if you think by “top” we mean some sort of elitist club, think again: our study has identified over 20,000 museum-quality western painters for potential inclusion. The study is still underway, and you’ll certainly be hearing more about it in the future (both here and hopefully in an appropriate journal somewhere). For now, we’ve taken over 200 of the top artists from that study who were missing from the app and added them.

And of course when we add artists we include a number of artworks from each of those artists, resulting in an increase of 20,000 works of art which can be accessed by the app (for a total well over 90,000). Much of the credit for adding these additional works goes to the participants in year 5 of our summer intern program.

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Details

Art Authority for iPad 4.10 is in the App Store now, and is of course a free upgrade for all current users. Art Authority K-12 for iPad and Art Authority for iPhone 4.10 should be available there shortly, and are also free upgrades. Our free community site includes all the new artists and works.

And in case you’re curious about the new artists, here’s the whole list:

Allston, Washington	Cosway, Richard	Glackens, William James	Madrazo y Garreta, Raimundo de	Roussel, Ker-Xavier
Aman-Jean, Edmond	Coypel, Antoine	Goodall, Frederick	Mancini, Antonio	Ruskin, John
Amigoni, Jacopo	Coypel, Charles-Antoine	Grigor’yev, Boris	Marcoussis, Louis	Russell, John
Anquetin, Louis	Crane, Walter	Guérin, Pierre	Maris, Jacob Henricus	Ruszczyc, Ferdynand
Asselyn, Jan	Creswick, Thomas	Guys, Constantin	Marmion, Simon	Saint-Aubin, Gabriel de
Assereto, Gioacchino	Creti, Donato	Hammershøi, Vilhelm	Martin, John	Sánchez Coello, Alonso
Balke, Peder	Crome, John	Harlow, George Henry	Matejko, Jan	Savoldo, Giovanni Girolamo
Barker, Thomas	Cruikshank, George	Harpignies, Henri-Joseph	Maufra, Maxime	Schalcken, Godfried
Barry, James	Dance-Holland, Nathaniel	Haydon, Benjamin Robert	Mauve, Anton	Schedoni, Bartolomeo
Beardsley, Aubrey Vincent	Daniele da Volterra	Hayman, Francis	McCubbin, Frederick	Schiavone, Andrea
Benson, Ambrosius	Daniell, Thomas	Hayter, George	Miereveld, Michiel Jansz. van	Seghers, Gerard
Bergognone, Ambrogio	Daubigny, Charles François	Hébert, Antoine Auguste Ernest	Montagna, Bartolomeo	Séraphine
Besnard, Albert	Davies, Arthur Bowen	Henner, Jean Jacques	Monticelli, Adolphe	Shannon, Charles Haslewood
Biagio d’Antonio	De Wint, Peter	Hicks, Edward	Moore, Albert Joseph	Shannon, James Jebusa
Bicci di Lorenzo	Decamps, Alexandre-Gabriel	Holl, Frank	Morland, George	Siberechts, Jan
Blanchard, Jacques	Dedreux, Alfred	Hondecoeter, Melchior de	Morris, William	Solomon, Simeon
Blanche, Jacques-Emile	Delaunay, Robert	Horsley, John Callcott	Morse, Samuel Finley Breese	Stanfield, Clarkson
Boccaccino, Boccaccio	Denis, Simon Joseph Alexander Clément	Hovenden, Thomas	Moser, Kolo	Stella, Jacques
Bonnat, Léon	Detaille, Jean Baptiste Edouard	Huet, Paul	Müller, William James	Sustris, Lambert
Both, Jan	Devéria, Eugène	Hunt, William Morris	Mulready, William	Thaulow, Fritz
Brabazon, Hercules Brabazon	Diaz de la Peña, Narcisse Virgile	Isabey, Eugène	Nasmyth, Patrick	Thoma, Hans
Bracquemond, Félix	Dietrich, Christian Wilhelm Ernst	Israëls, Jozef	Natoire, Charles-Joseph	Thulden, Theodor van
Breenbergh, Bartholomeus	Doesburg, Theo van	Jacopo da Empoli	Neroccio di Bartolommeo de’ Landi	Tiffany, Louis Comfort
Bruce, Patrick Henry	Drost, Willem	Jacque, Charles Émile	Nittis, Giuseppe de	Tocqué, Louis
Buck, Adam	Drouais, François Hubert	Jarvis, John Wesley	Northcote, James	Tonks, Henry
Calame, Alexandre	Duck, Jacob	Jawlensky, Alexei	Ochtervelt, Jacob	Troyon, Constant
Caldecott, Randolph	Ducreux, Joseph	John, Gwen	Opie, John	Valadon, Suzanne
Cappelle, Jan van de	Dupré, Jules	Khnopff, Fernand	Orpen, William	Valenciennes, Pierre Henri de
Cappiello, Leonetto	Duyster, Willem Cornelisz.	Købke, Christen	Palmezzano, Marco	Vanderlyn, John
Carducho, Vicente	Earl, Ralph	La Fresnaye, Roger de	Pascin, Jules	Vedder, Elihu
Carracci, Agostino	Eastlake, Charles Lock	Labille-Guiard, Adélaïde	Pasini, Alberto	Verspronck, Jan
Carrière, Eugène	Eckersberg, C. W.	Lacombe, Georges	Pasternak, Leonid	Victors, Jan
Carus, Carl Gustav	Edelfelt, Albert	Laer, Pieter van	Pellegrini, Giovanni Antonio	Vien, Joseph-Marie, the elder
Casilear, John William	Eilshemius, Louis Michel	Lance, George	Pennell, Joseph	Vignon, Claude
Castiglione, Giuseppe	Everdingen, Allart van	Lane, Fitz Hugh	Perino del Vaga	Vincent, François André
Catena, Vincenzo di Biagio	Field, Erastus Salisbury	Lavery, John	Pesellino	Vollon, Antoine
Catlin, George	Filippo Napoletano	Lely, Peter	Petitjean, Hippolyte	Ward, James
Cazes, Pierre Jacques	Flandrin, Hippolyte-Jean	Leslie, Charles Robert	Phillips, Ammi	Watson, John Dawson
Charlet, Nicolas-Toussaint	Forain, Jean Louis	Levy, Emile	Picot, François-Edouard	Westall, Richard
Chinnery, George	Fortuny y Carbó, Mariano José María Bernardo	Lhermitte, Léon-Augustin	Pierre, Jean Baptiste Marie	Wijnants, Jan
Cogniet, Léon	Fragonard, Alexandre-Evariste	Ligozzi, Jacopo	Pitati, Bonifazio de’	Wilson, Richard
Collier, Edwaert	Frost, William Edward	Linnell, John	Polidoro da Caravaggio	Wood, Christopher
Colman, Samuel	Gandolfi, Gaetano	Lippo Memmi	Pot, Hendrik	Yakovlev, Aleksandr
Constant, Jean Joseph Benjamin	Garofalo	Lissitzky, El	Potter, Beatrix	Yeames, William Frederick
Cooke, Edward William	Gérard, Marguerite	Loo, Carle van	Regnault, Jean-Baptiste	Zoppo, Marco
Cooper, Thomas Sidney	Gifford, Robert Swain	Loo, Jean-Baptiste van	Ribot, Théodule	Zuloaga, Ignacio
Coorte, Adriaen	Gillot, Claude	Loo, Louis Michel van	Roslin, Alexander
Cope, Charles West	Gilpin, Sawrey	Mackintosh, Charles Rennie	Rotari, Pietro
Coques, Gonzales	Giroux, André	Maclise, Daniel	Rousseau, Théodore