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Art, Design, and Art History

A guide for students researching the areas of fine art, art history, design, digital arts, and architecture


Image Databases


A list of just some of the many and growing institutional digital collections on the web. Start your image searches here.


Log into MyUTampa to access ARTstor and the Vogue Archive

See below to learn how to cite images in your paper or presentation. For more information about intellectual property rights surrounding the use of images and further digital collection resources, explore the College Art Association site.  

Image: A Dancing Cat and Dog, anonymous, c. 1630 - c. 1699, Rijksmuseum http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.61383



How to cite images


Each style format (MLA, Chicago, APA, etc.) has it's own specific way of citing an image. When you are including an image in your paper or presentation, no matter where you got the image from, you need to cite your source as you would if you were taking a quote out of a book, article, or website. 

How to cite images in:

Chicago (search for "citing illustrations")

MLA (scroll down to "A Painting, Sculpture, or Photograph")

APA (there is no “official” APA citation style for paintings or other works of art, but the APA Style Blog recently addressed this question in a blog post.) 

Rule of thumb: if you are confused about formatting, make sure to include all pieces of information to the best of your ability (title, author, date, repository or database, museum/institution or other website you got the image from, copyright info)


Copyright considerations for using images in your published papers or presentations:

US Copyright Office: How to Investigate the Copyright Status of a Work (PDF)

Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States (Cornell Chart)

Code Of Best Practices In Fair Use In the Visual Arts

Digital Image Rights Computator (DIRC) - Developed by the Visual Resources Association, the Digital Image Rights Computator assists the user to assess the intellectual property status of a specific image documenting a work of art, a designed object, or a portion of the built environment so that the user can make informed decisions regarding the intended educational uses of that image.

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