Images that are not in the Public Domain are protected by Copyright Law. The Fair use exception allows for a limited use of images for educational purposes without obtaining permission from the copyright holders. Some copyrighted images may be offered for reuse under a Creative Commons license which grants permission to the public to access, share and reproduce those works. There are several different Creative Commons licenses that may be applied, so be sure to check what uses the license allows. In addition, some of the sources below may contain both public domain and Creative Commons images so it is important to check the terms of use of each image.
There is an ever-growing list of museums that are making high-resolution images of works no longer under copyright, available to be used without restriction. Check individual museum sites and "terms of use" to see how their images can be used. Make sure image quality standards offered by individual sites comply with quality standards requested by publishers (file size, clarity, sharpness, etc.). Below is a selective list of such providers.
