Documenting sources for images can be challenging, especially with the variety of new electronic resources now available. Many different style manuals exist. The Chicago Manual of Style is the one most used for Art and Design related papers. Citation examples of different sources are listed below. Use what information is available to you, even if it is only the website or book from which you found the image.
The basic information you will need:
• Artistʼs name
• Title of the work
• Date it was created
• Repository, museum, or owner (in other words, where it is now located)
• City or country of origin
• Dimensions of the work
• Material or medium (oil on canvas, marble, found objects, 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.
Bibliographic entry – general
Gogh, Vincent van. The Starry Night. 1889. Oil on canvas. 29 in. x 36 ¼ in.
Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Footnote/endnote – general
1. Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Night, 1889, oil on canvas, 29 in. x 36 ¼ in.,
Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Caption – general
(*note: captions can be done as figure, fig., illustration, or ill.)
Fig. 1: Vincent Van Gogh, The Starry Night, 1889, oil on canvas, 29 in. x 36 ¼
in., Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Bibliographic entry – online (websites or databases)
Duveneck, Frank. Whistling Boy, 1872. Oil on canvas, 28 in. x 21 ½ in.
Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati.
<http://cincinnatiartmuseum.stores.yahoo.net/frduwhboy.html>, accessed
12 Aug. 2007.
Footnote/endnote – online (websites or databases)
1. Henri Matisse, The Woman with the Hat, 1905, oil on canvas, 81.3 cm x 60.3
cm, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco.
Caption – online (websites or databases)
Illustration. 1: Frank Duveneck, Whistling Boy, 1872, oil on canvas, 28 in. x 21 ½ in.
Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati,
<http://cincinnatiartmuseum.stores.yahoo.net/frduwhboy.html>
Bibliographic entry – slide in the library
Gris, Juan. Newspaper and Fruit Dish, 1916. Oil on canvas. 18 1/8 in. x 14 7/8
in. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. University of
Cincinnati, OH: Visual Resources Center, 2005, slides.
Footnote/endnote – slide in the library
1. Juan Gris, Newspaper and Fruit Dish, 1916, oil on canvas, 18 1/8 in. x 14 7/8 in.,
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. University of Cincinnati, OH:
Visual Resources Center, 2005, slides.
Caption – slide in the library
Illustration 1: Juan Gris, Newspaper and Fruit Dish, 1916, oil on canvas, 18 1/8
in. x 14 7/8 in. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. University of
Cincinnati, OH: Visual Resources Center, 2005, slides.
Credit lines
(Images with copyright restrictions)
Reproduced with permission from Jan Newstrom Thompson, Duveneck: Last
Paintings Found (Santa Clara, CA: Triton Museum of Art, 1987), 55, © 1987 by
Triton Museum of Art.
(Images without copyright restrictions)
Man and boy fishing in Ohio River, September 14, 1929. Courtesy of Rosemary
Bart
Photograph courtesy of Cincinnati Art Museum