I am looking for references (links, URLs, articles, websites or any other information) to answer this question.

"Consider the ways in which art produced in seventeenth, eighteenth-century, and early nineteenth-century (up to c. 1830) Europe was mobilized for political purposes. How did various royalty and revolutionaries use art as a means of solidifying their power? Be sure to establish the appropriate political context in your discussion of the ways in which the visual arts charted developments from royal absolutism to republicanism. Your answer should treat subject matter and style as components of these political expressions."

You may have to search and research, but once you learn some good sources and methods, you should have success. In addition to searching on the Internet, you also need to make best friends with the reference librarian(s) in your local or college library. Libraries these days subscribe to enormous research databases, and they are often more useful than Internet searches. Ask your librarian if you have access to EBSCOHost -- it has several databases within it, including at least three for health sciences, one for military and government, one huge one for academic research, and others.

For Internet searching:
http://hanlib.sou.edu/searchtools/
At this webpage, you can go immediately to the search sites (first three columns across the top) -- or even better you can scroll down until you see the section called HOW TO SEARCH THE INTERNET. Those are the links to start with. You'll not only learn how to come up with good search terms, but also how to evaluate the webpages you get as results. Some will be good and others will be garbage. You need to know how to tell the difference.

My favorite way to search is to go to Google's advanced search page http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en and put my search words or phrases into the first or second search box (either "all the words" or "exact phrase"). Another is to start out at http://scholar.google.com. However, there many other strategies for searching you can use, and the HOW TO SEARCH THE INTERNET section will help you best.

Learning to use Google or other search engines can save you time and help you learn to find information efficiently. Here are some websites that can teach you how:

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html

http://hanlib.sou.edu/searchtools/searchtips.html

http://www.pandia.com/goalgetter/index.html

http://websearch.about.com/mbody.htm?once=true&COB=home&PM=112_100_T

... and one to help you judge whether a particular website's information is worth your time:

http://hanlib.sou.edu/searchtools/evaluate.html

Happy searching.

To find references for your question about the use of art for political purposes in seventeenth, eighteenth-century, and early nineteenth-century Europe, you can follow these steps:

1. Start by searching academic databases such as JSTOR, ProQuest, or Google Scholar. Use keywords like "art and politics in 17th century Europe," "art and power in 18th-century Europe," or "political art in early 19th-century Europe."

2. Look for articles or books written by art historians, scholars of European history, or cultural historians. Pay attention to the abstracts or summaries to see if the content matches your research topic.

3. Check the bibliographies or reference sections of the articles or books you find. This will lead you to more sources that could be relevant to your research question.

4. Utilize museum and gallery websites, which often have online collections with detailed information about specific artworks and their historical context. For example, you can explore the websites of major museums such as the Louvre, the British Museum, or the National Gallery.

5. Use online libraries and archives like the Europeana Collections, the Metropolitan Museum of Art's digital collection, or the Getty Research Institute's online resources. These platforms can provide access to a wide range of primary and secondary sources, including digitized artworks, historical documents, and scholarly publications.

6. Consult books written specifically on the topic of political art or the history of European art during the mentioned time periods. Look for renowned art historians like Arnold Hauser, Robert Rosenblum, or Linda Nochlin, who have explored these subjects in their works.

Remember to critically evaluate the reliability and credibility of the sources you find by considering their authorship, publication date, peer-review status, and the reputation of the publisher or institution. Such considerations ensure you are using authoritative and trustworthy information to answer your question accurately.