Renaissance Architecture 

Catalogues Raisonnés
"All the works of an artist".  A scholar or a group of scholars documents every work of an artist's career.  Each work is pictured, with scholarly opinions, provenance (where the work has been), literature about the work, and spurious works (forgeries).  The first place to start when researching an artist or individual work. Not all artists have catalogues raisonnés.

Meyer zur Capellen, Jürg.  Raphael : a critical catalogue of his paintings / Jürg Meyer zur Capellen ; [translated from the German and edited by Stefan B. Polter].   Landshut [Germany] : Arcos, c2001- 
 
Raphael, 1483-1520 -- Catalogues raisonnés.
Raphael, 1483-1520 -- Criticism and interpretation.

Corpora
Like a catalogue raisonné, only for a single kind of object.  Famous corpora are written for Greek pottery (Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum), stain glass windows (Corpus Vitrirarum) and Florentine altarpieces (Offner).

Offner, Richard. A critical and historical corpus of Florentine painting / by Richard Offner ; with Klara Steinweg ; continued under the direction of Miklós Boskovits and Mina Gregori. 
New ed.  Florence, Italy : Giunti Barbeŕa, 1986-

Painting, Italian -- Italy -- Florence -- Catalogs.
Painters -- Italy -- Florence -- Catalogs.

Permanent Holdings Catalogs (of museums)

Detailed catalogs of a period or genre of art in a particular museum.  Like a catalogue raisonné, it will contain a collection of scholar's opinion on an object, conservation reports, provenance and literature (written about it).  If you know of the location of a work of art, check for permanent holdings catalogs.

Italian paintings of the fifteenth century by National Gallery of Art (U.S.).  (Washington : National Gallery of Art ; New York : Distributed by Oxford University Press, c2003.)

Painting, Renaissance--Italy--Catalogs
Painting, Medieval--Italy--Catalogs

Historic Guides in Special Collections

The Rare Book, Manuscript and Special Collections Library (RBMSCL) has a diverse collection of architectural folios and guidebooks.  Some include

Descrittione di Roma antica e moderna, nella quale si contengono chiese, monasterii, hospedali, compagnie, collegii, e seminarii, tempii, teatri, anfiteatri, naumachie, cerchi, fori, curie, palazzi, e statue, librerie, musei, pitture, sculture, & i nomi de gli artefici. Indice de’sommi pontefici, imperatori, e duchi. Con due copiosissime tavole.  Roma, A. Fei, 1643.    Special Collections  E D449R 

Other rare material can be found in Lilly (Locked Stacks - Cage)

Alberti, Leon Battista.  The architecture of Leon Batista Alberti in ten books. Of painting in three books, and Of statuary in one book, translated into Italian by Cosimo Bartoli and into English by James Leoni. In one volume. 
 London, Printed by E. Owen for R. Alfray, 1755.   Lilly Cage Oversize NA2515 .A32 1755.