All Guides: Art History: Images

Sources for Images

The most used image collections for general research in art history

Artstor This link opens in a new window
Note: All Artstor content is migrating to JSTOR, and the Artstor platform will be retired on August 1, 2024. You can check out the new search interface now at Artstor on JSTOR. More information can be found at Welcome to JSTOR from Artstor.

Library of high quality digital images of artistic photographs and artwork from museums and collections worldwide.
Macalester Art History Digital Collection This link opens in a new window
Database of high quality digital images collected and maintained by the Art Department at Macalester.

Other image collections for more specialized work

Art Images for College Teaching This link opens in a new window
Source of images organized into five broad historical eras. Each image has basic data, instructions for downloading, and where it is referenced from a list of basic art history texts.
Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO) This link opens in a new window
Digital images of books published between 1701 and 1800 in the fields of history, literature, religion, law, fine arts, science and more. Includes significant English-language and foreign-language titles printed in Great Britain during the eighteenth century and works from the Americas.
British Library Images Online This link opens in a new window
Holds the King's Library, manuscripts, rare books, musical texts, maps, illustrations, drawings, paintings and photographs spanning almost 3000 years.

The following image resources here are primarily intended for educational, course-related uses only. If you find any of the links do not work or if you have a resource you would like to add to the list, please contact the Visual Resources Specialist.

General Collections

American Academy in Rome Photo Archive Several valuable and specialized collections of photographs on archaeology, architecture, art, landscape architecture and gardens.
Art & Architecture Affiliated with the Courtauld Institute of Art, The Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery and the Conway Library.
Art Images for College Teaching Royalty-free image exchange resource for the educational community.
Artsy This Contemporary image database aims to mirror music and other "recommendation" based sites through what they call the "Art Genome Project," a growing data-set of categories that connect artworks for serendipitous exploration. Chrome is not a supported browser.
Bildindex der Kunst und Architektur About 2 million images of art and architecture from 13 European countries. The website is only in German.
Calisphere Digital collection of images relating to California, including architecture, art, historical photographs, etc.
Compfight A contemporary and casual image search engine tailored to efficiently locate images for blogs, comps, inspiration, and research.
Digital Public Library of America Materials from American libraries, archives, museums and other cultural heritage institutions.
Europeana Digital Collections Explore 58,112,930 artworks, artifacts, books, films and music from European museums, galleries, libraries and archives.
Freer/Sackler Galleries Some of the most important holdings of Asian art in the world.
Gallica Bibliotheque Numerique Fourteen million books and printed documents, manuscripts, prints, photographs, maps and plans, scores, coins, medals, sound documents, video and multimedia documents, scenery elements, etc. French only.
Getty's Open Content Database The Getty makes available, without charge, all available digital images to which the Getty holds the rights or that are in the public domain to be used for any purpose. No permission is required.
LACMA Collections LACMA offers 20,000 high-quality unrestricted images of art from their collection, and are available for everyone to download and use freely.
The Library of Congress Home to a growing treasury of digitized photographs, manuscripts, maps, sound recordings, motion pictures, and books, as well as “born digital” materials such as Web sites.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art High-resolution digital images of public domain works in the Museum’s world-renowned collection.
Netherlands Institute for Art History (RKD) Unique collection of documentary, library and archive material on Western art from the late Middle Ages to the present. Documentation about Dutch art forms the nucleus of the collections.
The Newberry Library A world-renowned independent research library in Chicago with collections of rare books, maps, music, manuscripts, and other printed material spanning six centuries. Researchers can also access materials in digital collections.
New York City Municipal Archives Online Gallery Over 800,000 items digitized, including photographs, maps, motion-pictures and audio recordings.
NGA Images Repository of digital images of the collections of the National Gallery of Art.
NYPL Digital Gallery New York Public Library’s vast collections, includes illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints, photographs and more.
Online Museum Resources on Asian Art (Columbia U) OMuRAA identifies online visual resources having to do with Asian Art-- including collections databases, digital image libraries, archived websites of special exhibitions, online presentations of focused collections, and websites for teaching with and about art -- and indexes them in ways that are familiar to teachers and students in world history, world literature, and general art courses.
Picture Collection Online More than 30,000 digitized images from books, magazines and newspapers as well as original photographs, prints and postcards, mostly created before 1923.
Rijksmuseum 125,000 high resolution digital images free to use and manipulate.
Smithsonian Archives of American Art Image Gallery The image gallery contains over 8,000 photographs, letters, sketches, diaries, and other documents which have been scanned and individually described. Small resolution images are available without watermark for educational use.
Visual Arts Data Service (UK) VADS is the online resource for visual arts offering a portfolio of visual art collections of over 100,000 images that are freely available and copyright cleared for use in learning, teaching and research in the UK.
Web Gallery of Art Western (European) fine arts of the Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Realism, and Impressionism periods (1000-1900).
The Wellcome Library Find thousands of Creative Commons licensed images from historical library materials and museum objects to contemporary digital photographs, courtesy of the Wellcome Collection, a free museum and library in London.
Wikimedia Commons Anyone can add material, but the image quality is often terrific.
World Digital Library Contains primary source materials (books, manuscripts, maps, newspapers, journals, prints and photographs, sound recordings, and films) from around the world presented in a highly searchable manner.
WorldImages California State University IMAGE Project contains approximately 100,000 images, is global in coverage and includes all areas of visual imagery.
Yale Collections Art, natural history, books, and maps, photos, audio, and video documenting people, places, and events that form part of Yale’s institutional identity and contribution to scholarship.
York Project on Wikimedia Paintings from the York Project DVD “10,000 Masterpieces of Painting.”
Your Paintings The entire UK national collection of oil paintings, the stories behind the paintings, and where to see them for real.

Geographical, Anthropological, or Historical Focus

ACOR Photo Archive The American Center of Oriental Research (ACOR) in Amman, Jordan, shares its new web-based photo archive, featuring close to 10,000 high-resolution digital images of cultural heritage sites from Jordan and the surrounding region. The online archive, being developed with a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, includes spectacular images of hundreds of sites in Jordan, Syria, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia taken by renowned author and photographer Jane Taylor, as well as a growing collection of photographs of Jordan by famed journalist (and archaeological enthusiast) Rami Khouri. Other recently added collections include photographs by Linda K. Jacobs and Charles Wilson. All images presented online through our database are intended for open access, and are free to use for research and academic purposes. For image requests and permissions for publication please consult our online guidelines: https://photoarchive.acorjordan.org/?page_id=431. To learn more about the Photo Archive project or how to obtain high-resolution images, please email archives@acorjordan.org. ACOR is a non‑profit academic institution dedicated to promoting research and publication in the humanities and social sciences, with a particular focus on issues related to Jordan but also encompassing the broader Middle East. ACOR facilitates research by postgraduate researchers and senior scholars and assists in the training of specialists who focus on all phases of Jordan’s past and present. To learn more, please visit www.acorjordan.org or emailacor@acorjordan.org.
American University in Cairo A wide variety of digital information primarily on Egypt. It includes photographs, textual materials, oral histories, watercolors and much more.
Ancient World Image Bank Includes images from China, The Caucasus, North Africa, Western Europe, The Balkans, Turkey, The Levant, Greece, Italy and Egypt.
Arachne (iDAI.images) Arachne is intended to provide archaeologists and Classicists with a free internet research tool for quickly searching hundreds of thousands of records on objects and their attributes.
Catena: Digital Archive of Historic Gardens and Landscapes Historic and contemporary images that include plans, engravings, paintings, and photographs of historic gardens and landscapes
Collage: London Metropolitan Archives Online Image Database Devoted primarily to London topography and London life from the 15th Century to the present day. All parts of London (not just the City) are included, as are the adjoining counties.
The Emergence of Advertising in America: 1850-1920 Early history of advertising in the United States
Hearst Research Portal UC Berkeley’s Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology world-class collections, ranging from Egyptian mummy sarcophagi to Peruvian textiles to Native American baskets provides public access to its collections of more than 3 million objects, photographs, films and sound recordings. See https://hearstmuseum.berkeley.edu/about-portal/ for copyright and re-use information.
The Inter-American Institute for Advanced Studies in Cultural History Interdisciplinary research and publications by scholars working in Latin-American cultural history.
Machiel Kiel Photographic Archive Images of many monuments that have not survived, or have been significantly altered in, the second half of the twentieth century.
Manar al-Athar Images of archaeological sites, with buildings and art.
The National Register of Historic Places Includes both Government content that is in the public domain; as well as photographs, audio and video clips contributed or licensed by third parties.
Science & Society Picture Library The National Museums of Science and Industry, which includes London’s Science Museum, the National Railway Museum and the National Media Museum.
Shorpy Fascinating blog about historical photographs with fantastic, high resolution images.
UCLA Ancient Near East and Egypt This guide serves as a portal for resources relating to the ancient Near East and Egypt. Intended as a "one-stop shopping" site, this guide contains links to hundreds of e-resources, including reference sources like online dictionaries, encyclopedias, and bibliographies; databases and indexes; e-book and journal collections; and online archives, image repositories, and maps.

Architecture

archINFORM The largest online database about worldwide architects and buildings from past to present.
Archnet The built environment in Muslim societies focused on architecture, urbanism, environmental and landscape design, visual culture, and conservation.
Asian Historical Architecture Photographic survey of Asia’s architectural heritage with background information and virtual tours.
Casselman Archive of Islamic and Mudejar Architecture in Spain Images of medieval Spain taken by the late Eugene Casselman (1912-1996) during his thirty years of travel throughout the Iberian Peninsula.
Chartres: Cathedral of Notre-Dame Comprehensive collection of images and detailed descriptions of Chartres Cathedral.
Cities and Buildings Database Digitized images of buildings and cities drawn from across time and throughout the world.
Digital Imaging Project Art historical images of sculpture and architecture from pre-historic to post-modern.
The Huntington Library Maynard L. Parker Collection Negatives, transparencies, photographs, office records and business correspondence related to a wide range of American architects, publishers, and designers of the postwar era.
Mapping Gothic France Images, texts, charts and historical maps to explore the parallel stories of Gothic architecture and the formation of France in the 12th and 13th centuries.
Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture A searchable journal containing text and images on topics associated with medieval art and architecture, available for educational use.
SAHArchipedia Around 100 buildings from each state are represented.

Manuscripts

Beinicke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Yale University photographs, textual documents, illuminated manuscripts, maps, works of art, and books from the Beinecke’s collections.
Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts The British Library holds one of the richest collections of medieval and renaissance manuscripts in the world.
Digital Scriptorium The Digital Scriptorium is a growing image database of medieval and renaissance manuscripts that unites scattered resources [digital archives] from many institutions into an international tool for teaching and scholarly research.

Focused Collections

accessCeramics Growing collection of images of contemporary ceramics by recognized artists.
British Library Maps, geological diagrams, beautiful illustrations, comical satire, illuminated and decorative letters, colorful illustrations, landscapes, wall-paintings and more to use, remix and repurpose.
Closer to Van Eyck: Rediscovering the Ghent Altarpiece Rediscover the altarpiece in incredible close-up through thousands of both on and underneath the paintings’ surfaces.
Cézanne Catalogue Raisonné An ongoing project documenting the work of Paul Cézanne. Exhibition histories, provenance and published references are included with each work. Users must create a free account to access this information and should abide by the terms and conditions of use.
Digital Library of the Middle East The Digital Library of the Middle East (DLME) offers free and open access to the rich cultural legacy of the Middle East and North Africa by bringing together collections from a wide range of cultural heritage institutions. Developed by an engineering team from CLIR and Stanford Libraries, the platform federates and makes accessible data about collections from around the world.
Gateway to Astronaut Photography from Space NASA’s database of images taken from space using the hand held cameras of astronauts.
Japanese Animated Film Classics A database of old Japanese Animations. Genres include war propaganda, early manga and fairy tales. Great mini bios of the animators.
John James Audubon’s Birds of America Life-sized watercolours of North American birds, all reproduced from hand-engraved plates.
Mapping Titian Allows users to create customizable collections of paintings and maps that show the movement of the pictures over time and space.
National Collection of Aerial Photography (UK/Europe) The vast majority of the photographs have been declassified by the UK Ministry of Defense and cover the Second World War and the Cold War.
Pattern in Islamic Art Images of patterns and other design features drawn from the rich cultural heritage of the Islamic world.
Rossetti Archive Facilitates the scholarly study of Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae Collection Brought together by a nineteenth-century collector and organized around a core of prints published by Lafreri but also includes many other related prints.
Structurae Contemporary and historical information on works of structural engineering, their designers, and firms that constructed them.
Transatlantic Encounters: Latin American Artists in Interwar Paris Examination of Latin American artists’ intense interaction with European artists and critics as well as their major contributions to the international art scene in Paris between the two world wars.
Turkish Cultural Foundation Professional collection of Prof. Dr. Nurhan Atasoy, Art Historian and Senior Scholar of the Turkish Cultural Foundation.
Ukiyo-e: Japanese Woodblock Print Search Search for Japanese woodblock prints by simply taking a picture of an existing print AND see similar prints across multiple collections of prints.
USGS Earth Explorer The United States Geological Survey is very similar to Google Earth, but with different features.
William Henry Fox Talbot Catalogue Raisonné More than 25,000 prints and negatives as well as scholarly research and bibliographies about the photographer.

Copyright and using images found "in the wild"

There are many fair use scenarios for using images you find online for your class projects and papers, but not every use you can think of is "fair." And limiting to images with Creative Commons licensing only can unduly restrict your options. Questions? Come talk with the Visual Resources Specialist or one of your subject librarians.