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Art History and Visual Arts: Find and Use Images

Image Databases

Citing Images

Citation style guides like the Chicago Manual of Style also contain conventions for citing images. Image citations are often used as captions for images referenced in a book, an article, or your paper. The caption contains specific components that help the reader to identify the work of art:

  • Creator’s name
  • Title of work
  • Date of composition
  • Medium
  • Name and location of institution housing the work

The caption should also contain a reference to the original source of the image, be it a book, a database like ArtStor, or a web site. 

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