Library Guides: Art and Art History: Image Databases

Image Databases

Artstor This link opens in a new window
A nonprofit resource that provides over 1.6 million digital images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and sciences with an accessible suite of software tools for teaching and research.
AP Images This link opens in a new window
Contains photographs, audio sound bites, graphics, and text spanning over 160 years of history.
Britannica Image Quest This link opens in a new window
Access more than two million rights-cleared images from over 50 of the best collections in the world.
Bloomsbury Fashion Central This link opens in a new window
Provides integrated text and image content on world dress and fashion throughout history.
Oxford Art Online This link opens in a new window
A standard art reference resource. Lengthy, scholarly entries describe and define art terms and movements worldwide. Includes biographical information about artists.
Limited to 5 concurrent users
Picture Post Historical Archive This link opens in a new window
The Picture Post’s liberal, anti-Fascist, populist editorial stance, coupled with candid 35mm photography by a stable of talented photographers, was a runaway success from its first issue. Circulation reached 1.7m within six months and readership was estimated at 80% of the British population during the war years.
Vogue Archive This link opens in a new window
A complete searchable archive of American Vogue, from the first issue in 1892 to the current month, reproduced in high-resolution color page images.

DU School of Art and Art History Visual Media Center News
The Visual Media Center in the School of Art and Art History at the University of Denver creates images for faculty and students at the University. The VMC News Blog will also provide access to images available on the internet from a variety of sources.
University of Denver Art Collection

Image Websites

Google Art Project
A collaboration between Google and museum partners to provide access to high-quality art images.
LIFE photo archive hosted by Google
Search millions of photographs from the LIFE photo archive, stretching from the 1750s to today.
Google Images
A wide array of images from across the disciplines, but quality can be uneven and may not include attribution of original source. If you plan to post images found via Google on the Web or use them in a publication, ensure you have permissions from the original source.
Google Art Project
A collaboration between Google and museum partners to provide access to high-quality art images.
Finding Images on the Web
A guide to web resources developed by Ruth S. Thomas, Art/Art History Bibliographer, Boston University Libraries.

Public Access Image Databases

A list of sources for public domain and relatively unrestricted images.

Yale University
National Gallery of Art
- Open Access Policy
- Collections Search
The Getty
- Open Content Program
- Getty Search Gateway
LACMA
- Terms of Use
- Collections Search
Walters Art Museum
- Collections Search
Rijksstudio
A service of the Rijksmuseum, Rijksstudio offers high resolution images (4500x4500px usually) for public domain works via a direct download on the site.
- For ordering TIFFs: https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/photoservice
- Rijksstudio search and browse: https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/rijksstudio?ii=0&p=0&from=2016-08-02T20%3A37%3A02.4603358Z
NYPL Digital Collections
You can limit your search to public domain images only.
- Explanation of public domain collections: https://www.nypl.org/research/collections/digital-collections/public-domain
- Public domain search results page: http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/search/index?utf8=%E2%9C%93&keywords=&filters%5Brights%5D=pd
Library of Congress Digital Collections
This collection contains a mix of restricted and unrestricted works. However, each subcollection has detailed information regarding usage restrictions. Some material does not have restrictions (for example, drawings from the Lamb Studios Drawings)
- Master list of rights for subcollections: http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/rights.html
- Collection search: https://www.loc.gov/collections
Wellcome Images
Historical images are available for free, high-res download and are licensed under CC-BY 4.0 (creative commons attribution-only license). The images must be credited.
- Policy: https://wellcomeimages.org/ (see “Services” section)
- Collections search: https://wellcomeimages.org/
Europeana Art History Collection
Europeana allows you to limit to “Free re-use” images on the search results page.
- Terms and policies: http://www.europeana.eu/portal/en/rights.html
- Search for art history images: http://www.europeana.eu/portal/en/collections/art-history?q
Flickr Commons
This is a collection of material from various cultural heritage institutions, which contribute images of works believed to be in the public domain.
- Flickr Commons rights statement explanation: https://www.flickr.com/commons/usage/
- Commons search page: https://www.flickr.com/commons
Flickr
The main Flickr website also allows you to filter by license. Many images are licensed using creative commons licenses, some of which allow for modifications (like cropping) and commercial use. Appropriate filters would be: Commercial use & mods allowed, No known copyright restrictions, U.S. Government works
- Flickr search: https://www.flickr.com/search/?text=&license=4%2C5%2C9%2C10
OpenGLAM
OpenGLAM is a directory of open access image collections online.
- OpenGLAM directory listing: http://open-collections.okfn.org/items/browse?search=&type=18
Public Domain Review
Public Domain Review is a curated online publication that also links to high-resolution images. The images page allows you to filter by rights. Some of the images come from Wikimedia Commons.
- Public Domain Review Rights labeling explanation: http://publicdomainreview.org/rights-labelling-on-our-site/
- Public Domain Review Images page: http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/?medium=image

University of Denver

University Libraries

Research Guides

Art and Art History: Image Databases

Image Databases

Image Websites

Public Access Image Databases