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ARTstor

Citing Images

If you use an image you did not create, you must provide a citation. Image citations can be formatted according to the citation style you are using.

Image citations should include the following information:

  • Artist's name
  • Title of the work
  • Date it was created
  • Repository information (museum, library, or other institution where the work is located)
  • City or country of origin
  • Dimensions
  • Material or medium (oil on canvas, marble, etc.)

If you found the image in a book, you will also need the author, title, publisher information, date, page, and figure or plate number of the reproduction.  If you found the image online, you will need an access date, the web site address (URL), and, in some cases, an image ID number.

Examples

Following are several examples of image citations formatted according to MLA, APA, and Chicago styles.

MLA 2009 Style

Goya, Francisco. The Family of Charles IV. 1800. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid. Museo National del Prado. Web. 22 May 2006.

Klee, Paul. Twittering Machine. 1922. Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Artchive. Web. 22 May 2006.

APA 2009 Style

Image with a title from a library database:

Rousseau, H. (1896). The ship in the storm [Painting]. Musee de l'Orangerie, Paris. Retrieved from Oxford Art Online database.

Image with a title from a web site:

Rousseau, H. (1896). The ship in the storm [Painting]. Musee de l'Orangerie, Paris. Retrieved from http://www.uwm.edu/~wash/rousseau.jpg.

Image with a title scanned from a book:

Rousseau, H. (1896). The ship in the storm [Painting]. Musee de l'Orangerie, Paris. Henri Rousseau: Jungles in Paris. By Claire Fresches et al. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art. 232.

Image without a title from a library database:

Muybridge, E. [Photograph of a horse running]. (1887). National Gallery, London. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.

Image without a title from a printed source:

Muybridge, E. [Photograph of a horse running]. (1887). National Gallery, London. River of shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the technological wild West. By Rebecca Solnit. New York, NY: Viking. 52.

Note: If an image does not have a title, create a brief title and place it in [ ].

Chicago Style 

Image from a library subscription database:

Bib: Hoshiko, Eugene. "China Rain." Photograph. 1999. AP Images, ID99062401980.

Notes: Eugene Hoshiko, "China Rain," photograph, 1999, AP Images, ID99062401980.

Image from an online database:

Bib: Currier & Ives. "Gray Eagle." Lithograph. ca. 1866. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Online Catalog, http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2006676682/ (accessed September 25, 2010).

Notes: Currier & Ives, "Gray Eagle," lithograph, ca. 1866, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Online Catalog, http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2006676682/ (accessed September 25, 2010).

Image from a website:

Bib: Wilma, David. "El Centro de la Raza, Beacon Hill, Seattle." Photograph. 2001. HistoryLink.org, http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=9186 (accessed September 25, 2010).

Notes: David Wilma, "El Centro de la Raza, Beacon Hill, Seattle," photograph, 2001, HistoryLink.org, http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=9186 (accessed September 25, 2010).