Image Resources
ArtStor
A "nonprofit digital library of more than one million images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and social sciences." In addition to keyword and advanced searching, browsing is available by geography, classification, collection, and sample topic.
DASe
This is UT's own digital image archive. The Art & Art History Visual Resources Collection (VRC) can be accessed here.
VRC image request form
VRC image policies
Citing Images
How to Cite Images
The University of Cincinnati Libraries provides a brief explanation on the proper way to cite images.
Scanning Images
Best Practices
The recommended scanning resolution for images for printing is 300 dots per inch (dpi) and for the web is 72 dpi. For projection, make sure that the target size is 768x1024.
Scan Tips
More information about scanning can be found here, including an argument against scanning at 72 dpi.
Scanners in the FAL
Information about and instructions on using the scanners in the Fine Arts Library.
Online Image Resources
Ancient Art
African Art
Asian Art
European Art
Contemporary Art
Costume and Theater
Photography
Museums
Other Collections
Art Images for College Teaching
"Emphasis on ancient, medieval, and Renaissance European art and architecture". Two different image sizes are available for download.
Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection
This Harvard collection focuses on images of Byzantine and Pre-Columbian art, architecture, and archaeology. Browse the collections or use the advanced search by artist, culture, period/date, period/style, object type, and medium.
Perseus Digital Library
The Art & Archaeology Artifact Browser contains information about almost 6,000 Greco-Roman items. Most have images.
Theban Mapping Project
Offers many search options to find images from the Valley of the Kings and the Theban Necropolis.
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National Museum of African Art
This Smithsonian Institution collection offers advanced searching by classification, name, region, country, ethnic group, artist, date, and object number.
NYPL Digital Gallery
Of note in the New York Public Library Digital Gallery Arts & Literature Collections: Africana & Black History, Dance in Photographs and Prints, and the Vandamm archive featuring "theatrical personalities and production" from the 1920s-1957.
Stanford – Africa South of the Sahara – African Art on the Internet
An extensive annotated list of African Art online resources.
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Asian Art Museum
Keyword search and browsing by “Type of Art” of approximately 7,000 images.
Yale Silk Road Collection
More than 6,000 images taken during Yale's summer seminars along the Silk Road.
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Art Images for College Teaching
"Emphasis on ancient, medieval, and Renaissance European art and architecture". Two different image sizes are available for download.
Bild Index
This German site contains over 2 million images of art and architecture in over 13 countries. Non-German speakers will find the search fairly intuitive.
Europeana
Over 6 million items in an interface that can be translated into more than 25 languages. Search results are grouped by Text, Image, Video, and Sound. Refining of search is more powerful once initial search terms are entered. Browse by timeline also featured.
Pre-Raphaelite Online Resource
Hosted by the Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery. More than 3,000 images available.
Web Gallery of Art
Over 24,000 images of European painting and sculpture from 1000 – 1850.
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Access Ceramics
Offers searching and browsing by glazing/surface, temperature, technique, material, and object type.
Brooklyn Street Art
Look for images of urban, graffiti, public, and street art via search box, sphere of tags, “Images of the Week”, or “Categories” drop down menu.
Local Artists
New home for the Irving Sandler Artists File. Browse by medium, tag, or region. Search contemporary artists by name or city.
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Digital Dress Project
Searches four costume collections including the Henry Ford Historic Costume Collection and the Detroit Historical Museums Costume Collection.
Federal Theater Project
Images include stage and costume designs from 1935-1939. Of interest are productions of Macbeth, The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus, and Power.
Historical Clothing Collection at BYU
More than 2,600 images can be found in this Brigham Young University collection. Search by title, category, or description.
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Calisphere
The themed collections are targeted toward K-12 education. However, extensive holdings include collections such as more than 20,000 photos by Dorthea Lange, many of which were previously unpublished.
Flickr Commons
Searches the photo collections of almost 50 institutions, such as the Smithsonian, Brooklyn Museum, and Getty Research Institute.
George Eastman House
Provides keyword search of 400,000 images covering the history of photography. Albumen prints, daguerreotypes, tin types through modern photos are represented in this collection.
Library of Congress Prints & Photographs
More than 1.2 million items available. Many images have larger sizes for display or download.
LIFE Magazine photo archive
Millions of images, many of which were never published before. Information provided on the images is limited.
NYPL Digital Gallery
Of note in the New York Public Library Digital Gallery Arts & Literature Collections: Africana & Black History, Dance in Photographs and Prints, and the Vandamm archive featuring "theatrical personalities and production" from the 1920s-1957.
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The Art Institute of Chicago
This online collection contains more than 45,000 works of which 20,000 have digital images.
The British Museum
More than 533,000 objects have images in this 1.8 million item database.
Brooklyn Museum
More than 91,000 images available. Arts of the Americas and Decorative Arts are two of the larger collections. The Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art is a smaller collection of note.
Courtauld Institute of Art
Search over 40,000 drawings, paintings, prints, and photographs.
Detroit Institute of Arts
Search over 5,400 images by collection, classification, artist name, artist nationality, medium, or keyword. Prints, Drawings & Photographs is the largest digitized collection.
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Searches both the de Young and Legion of Honor museum collections.
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
Interactive timeline that searches part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collections.
The Huntington
6,300 digitized items currently available. The William Morris Collection is the largest represented with over 3,500 images.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
More than 103,000 works with images can be found. Search can be limited by department and results can be sorted by title, artist, or date.
National Gallery of Art
American and European paintings, sculpture, prints, photographs, and decorative arts.
State Hermitage Museum
More than 15,000 images from the collection of over 3 million items from the State Hermitage Museum located in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The advanced search is a bit easier to use. The browse feature forces a country choice in order to return results.
Virtual Museum of Canada
Over 800,000 images from more than 3,000 Canadian museum collections.
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Art Images for College Teaching
"Emphasis on ancient, medieval, and Renaissance European art and architecture". Two different image sizes are available for download.
Artcyclopedia
Search by artist, title of artwork, or museum. Results link directly to works of art in museums and other collections. Browse by art movements, name, medium, subject, and nationality.
Bridgeman Art Library
Search in more than 8,000 museum, gallery, and historical collections.
Calisphere
The themed collections are targeted toward K-12 education. However, extensive holdings include collections such as more than 20,000 photos by Dorthea Lange, many of which were previously unpublished.
IMLS funded sites
Browse more than 350 digital collections funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services by Subject (Arts) or Object (image).
NYPL Digital Gallery
Of note in the New York Public Library Digital Gallery Arts & Literature Collections: Africana & Black History, Dance in Photographs and Prints, and the Vandamm archive featuring "theatrical personalities and production" from the 1920s-1957.
Oxford Art Online
More than 6,200 images. The “advanced image search” searches only Grove Art Online.
Search.USA.gov
Searches images on .gov websites. “Filter adult content” is automatically selected, but it can be unchecked in the Advanced Search. “Images” may need to be re-selected after results are returned to get image results instead of links.
Smarthistory
An “open, web-based, art history textbook”. Results are presented in short articles with images and videos or in a short video lecture format. Use interactive timeline or browse by time, style, artist, or theme.
TinEye
TinEye is a reverse search engine that searches over 1.5 billion images. When you upload an image TinEye will provide information on other versions of that image that are available and the source of the image.
VADS - Visual Arts Data Service
“Over 100,000 digital images free for use in education.” Search by collection or theme, or use the advanced search feature.
WorldImages
Browse the Art & Architecture Portfolio or search over 80,000 images by Art Form, Style, Nationality, Work or Building Type, City/Site, Historical Era, Materials, Technique, or Century.
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Last updated August 16, 2010.
