How To Use This Forum

Welcome to the Trois Crayons Museum Forum, a collaborative platform designed to support museums, libraries, archives, and academic institutions in the study and documentation of pre-modern drawings. It provides a space for the drawings community to share research, pose questions, and contribute knowledge aimed at enhancing the understanding and interpretation of works on paper held in institutional collections.

Queries posted by Museums and other Institutional Partners address:

  • Attribution (clarifying or proposing an artist’s identity)
  • Identification of sitters, subjects, or locations
  • Dating (establishing the likely period or chronology of a work)
  • Provenance (tracing ownership history)
  • Current location of artwork
  • Other information

Using the Platform

  1. Browse Discussions by selecting Discussions from the main menu.
  2. Filter discussions in the left sidebar by query type (e.g., attribution, sitter, date), school (e.g. British, Dutch, Flemish), period, genre/subject, medium, country of origin, or style.
  3. Click any thumbnail to view a full discussion.

You may also browse by Institution from the Museums section in the main menu. Click on any listed Museum Partner to view its contributions.

Use the Search Bar: quickly locate threads by artist, institution, keyword, or subject.

You can ‘like‘ or ‘favourite‘ a discussion by clicking the heart symbol next to each Discussion. Your favourites are saved and accessible via the heart icon in the main menu.

Access and Participation

While the forum is open to view by all, participation in discussions is reserved for registered users. In order to comment on discussions submitted by Museum Partners, you must first register for an account. Qualified users may then contribute to ongoing conversations.

To comment on a discussion, click Sign In at the top of the page and complete the simple registration form. You’ll be asked to choose a username and password, enter your email address, and complete a simple anti-spam check. Once your account is approved, you may contribute to discussions and sign in for future visits.

Code of Conduct

The Trois Crayons Museum Forum is a working tool for professionals and the wider drawings community.

By contributing, you agree to:

  • Support the scholarly community and the advancement of research into pre-modern drawings
  • Be respectful and constructive in dialogue
  • Ensure that all contributions uphold high standards of accuracy and clarity
  • Cite sources where possible and credit images appropriately
  • Be mindful of privacy, copyright, and institutional sensitivities

For full Terms of Use, please click here.

For any queries regarding registration or appropriate use of the forum, please contact the site administrator, using the Contact Form.

Museum and Institutional Partners should refer to instructions in the Partner Portal.