Most art historical research involves finding supporting images to illustrate your arguments. Images can be appended to the end of your paper and also used for in-class PowerPoint presentations. Finding high-quality images can be difficult when using only free online sources, and use of some images may violate copyright laws. The resources on this page provide access to high-quality images available specifically for research and instructional use.
Remember: if you cannot find an image you need online, you may find it in a related monograph or exhibition catalogue in the Art Library. Use the in-house scanner to make a digital reproduction for your paper or presentation.
In addition to the websites and databases provided here, you can find digital collections on many other museum and archives websites.
The Google Art Project is a unique collaboration with some of the world’s most acclaimed art museums to enable people to discover and view more than one thousand artworks online in extraordinary detail.
Explore museums with Street View technology. Discover featured artworks at high resolution and use the custom viewer to zoom into paintings. Create your own collection and save specific views of any of the 1000+ artworks. Comments can be added to each painting and the whole collection can then be shared with friends and family.
