Guides: Subject Guide ~ Art and Art History: Images

Image Databases

Artstor This link opens in a new window
Note: Registration required to download images.
Note: Artstor content is migrating to JSTOR, and the Artstor website will be retired on August 1, 2024.
An image library for the arts and sciences. A rich collection of more than one million high-resolution images and tools for teaching and research. Subjects include architecture, painting, photography, sculpture, decorative arts and design, as well as archeological and anthropological objects. Coverage: prehistory to present.
Help: Getting Started with Artstor
More Info: Help with Artstor
Index of Medieval Art This link opens in a new window
Images and descriptive data related to the iconography of works of art. Formerly known as the Index of Christian Art, it now includes secular subjects as well as a growing number of subjects from medieval Jewish and Islamic culture. Coverage: late Antiquity to the sixteenth century.
AP Images Collection This link opens in a new window
Access to over 12 million current and historical news photographs, and 36,000 audio sound bites. Also includes 340,000 graphics images, including maps, graphs, charts, logos, flags and more. Coverage: 1826-present.
Note: Limited to 5 simultaneous users.
Art & Architecture Source This link opens in a new window
Combines the content of Art Index, Art Abstracts, Art Full Text, Art Index Retrospective, and Art & Architecture Complete to include over 770 full-text journals, more than 220 full-text books, an image collection, and podcasts from leading museums on artists and individual works of art. Coverage: 1921-present.

Use Art & Architecture Source to locate an artwork reproduced in an art magazine or journal.

On the Advanced Search screen, search for the artist and/or title of artwork.
Scroll down to Limit Your Results. Under Document Type, choose Art Reproduction.

Art Image Collections

Art Images for College Teaching
A royalty-free image exchange resource for the educational community.
Artsy
More than 26,000 high-resolution images of art and architecture from Artsy’s database are freely downloadable for educational use, including numerous iconic works from art history. Look for the “Download Image” button beside these images on the site.
British Library Flickr Photostream
Over one million images taken from the pages of 17th, 18th and 19th century books, available for anyone to use, remix and repurpose.
Courtauld Institute of Art: Art and Architecture
Collection of more than 40,000 images.
Getty Museum Open Content Images
More than 10,000 images from the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Getty Research Institute available through the Open Content Program. These include paintings, drawings, manuscripts, photographs, antiquities, sculpture, decorative arts, artists' sketchbooks, watercolors, rare prints from the 16th through the 18th century, and 19th-century architectural drawings of cultural landmarks.
Google Art Project
Explore the thousands of artworks in the collections of major art museums and galleries from around the world. Viewers can create their own collections and do side-by-side examinations of works.
Library of Congress
The largest library in the world includes millions of books, recordings, photographs, maps and manuscripts in its collections. Many collections are available online.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Over 375,000 images of artworks in The Met's collection that the Museum believes to be in the public domain, or those to which the Museum waives any copyright it might have. The Met's Open Access policy allows for these images to be used for any purpose, including commercial and noncommercial use, free of charge and without requiring permission from the Museum.
To identify these images, look for the Creative Commons/Public Domain Zero (0) icon directly below the image.
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Open Access Policy
National Gallery of Art Images
More than 45,000 open access digital images up to 3000 pixels each are available free of charge for download and use. NGA Images is designed to facilitate learning, enrichment, enjoyment, and exploration.
New York Public Library Digital Gallery
Over 800,000 images digitized from the The New York Public Library's vast collections, including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints, photographs and more.
Smithsonian Institution Collections Search
Over 8.6 million catalog records of museum objects, and library & archives materials. More than 1,200,000 of these records contain online images, video and sound files, electronic journals and other online resources.

Citing Images in Chicago Style

Image Captions

Images used in a research paper, slide presentation or website should include captions.
Use parenthetical references in the research paper, placed at the end of a sentence.
- example: ... Painted in June, 1889, The Starry Night depicts the view from the east-facing window of his asylum room at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, just before sunrise (fig 1).
Titles of works of art are italicized.
If an image is reproduced from a print source or a website, include the source's publication information.
Caption elements include: Figure or Illustration number (i.e., Fig. or Ill.). Artist's name, Title of Work, Date, Medium, [Dimensions], Collection or Institution, Place.

image caption:
Fig. 1. Vincent Van Gogh, The Starry Night, 1889, Oil on canvas, 29 in. x 36 ¼ in., Museum of Modern Art, New York.

image downloaded from ARTstor
Fig 2. Frederic Edwin Church, Storm in the Mountains. 1847, Oil on canvas, Cleveland Museum of Art. ARTstor. http://www.artstor.org

image downloaded from a museum web site
Fig. 3. Claude Monet, Water Lilies. 1919, Oil on canvas, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/438008

image scanned from an image reproduced in a book
Fig 4. August Rodin, The Thinker, 1880-81. Bronze sculpture. Cleveland Museum of Art. Rodin: the Shape of Genius. By Ruth Butler. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993: 4.