Metadata Schemas for Describing Analog and Digital Visual Artworks

With the increasing digitization of cultural heritage, the need for high-quality and understandable descriptions of artworks is also growing, both in traditional and digital environments. This bachelor's thesis focuses on the issue of metadata description of visual art in the context of cultural institutions. Specifically, it compares three different metadata schemas – CIDOC CRM, Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT), and Iconclass – in terms of their usability for describing both analog and digital artworks. The theoretical part of the thesis defines key concepts related to visual arts and provides an overview of the selected metadata schemas, including their practical applications. The practical part consists of a case study based on the application of these schemas to specific artworks selected according to predefined criteria. The aim of the thesis is to evaluate how effectively each schema captures the essential characteristics of artworks in terms of accuracy, completeness, and clarity, and how well it adapts to the description of both traditional and digital formats within cultural heritage institutions.