Research Guides: Art: Images

Image Citation

You should always cite or attribute any images you use. Check out this handout for an introduction to image citation and attribution.

Image Citation and Attribution Basics
A one page guide to figure out if you need to cite or attribute an image, with examples of each.

Inspiration

Trinacria, etching, aquatint, soft-ground etching, mm. 665x425, Engraved and designed by Toni Pecoraro. Image via the Wikimedia Commons.

ARTStor

Need images? Your best bet is to start with ARTstor, a database with over 2.5 million images on a variety of subjects. Be sure to check out their Youtube Channel for helpful videos on setting up a user account, downloading images to PowerPoint, and more!

ARTStor
A rich digital library that offers collections of art images and descriptive information as well as the software tools to enable active use of the collections.The ARTstor Library's content includes more than one million images covering a wide variety of subject areas, including art, architecture, music, religion, anthropology, literature, world history, American Studies, Asian Studies, Classical Studies, Medieval Studies, Renaissance Studies, and more.

Bridgeman Education

Bridgeman Education is another great image database for finding images of art and architecture. Search or browse to find images. You can also export images to PowerPoint for easy presentations

Bridgeman Education
Provides access to over 460,000+ high-quality fine art, historical and cultural images from thousands of collections all over the world. These images represent the canon of art history; from pre-historic cave paintings, through non-Western traditions, Renaissance Masters, Modernist movements, to contemporary artists; architecture, photography, manuscripts and objects.

Selected Art Images Resources

Art Images for College Teaching
"AICT is a royalty-free image exchange resource for the educational community."
The British Museum Collection Online
Over 1 million images of the museum's holdings. Most of these images are free for educational use.
The Collection Online at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
A collection of 400,000 free to use images from the museum's collections.
Getty Museum Image Collection
"Thousands of images of artworks are available for download, without charge, under the Getty's Open Content Program." Look for the Download button under the image.
Google Art Project
"Museums large and small, classic and modern, world-renowned and community-based from over 40 countries have contributed more than 40,000 high-resolution images of works ranging from oil on canvas to sculpture and furniture. Some paintings are available in ‘gigapixel’ format, allowing you to zoom in at brushstroke level to examine incredible detail. Use Google Street View to explore the interiors of landmarks such as the Palace of Versailles and The White House."
NGA Images
From the National Gallery of Art. These images are open access.
VADS
A database of arts related images compiled by the University for the Creative Arts in the UK.
Web Gallery of Art
"The Web Gallery of Art is a virtual museum and searchable database of Western (European) fine arts of the Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Realism, and Impressionism periods (1000-1900), currently containing over 35.100 reproductions." Free for educational use.