ARTstor
You can only download if you register for an account, which you'll need to do on campus. After you have an account, you can login from anywhere. This video tutorial has more detailed instructions.
Artstor images now in JSTOR
JSTOR is a growing digital library that includes multiple types and formats of content. In 2021, JSTOR began to bring Artstor to JSTOR, to create a robust platform for discovering and working with both text and images. Throughout 2021 and into 2022, images from Artstor collections are being added to JSTOR, and JSTOR platform features and functionality are evolving to support work with multiple formats of research materials.
Cornell Collections
- Cornell Collections of AntiquitiesCornell University owns several collections of antiquities -- originals and reproductions -- from the ancient Mediterranean. Acquired mostly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, their primary purpose was to serve as hands-on material for teaching and research. Once housed in the ground floor of Goldwin Smith Hall, the University's former Museum of Archaeology, they are now dispersed over several institutions, colleges, departments and buildings on campus. This website aims to reunite them again so that faculty, students and laypeople alike in Ithaca and beyond can discover these precious resources. The website is an ongoing project. So far, the collection of plaster casts, ancient coins, gems, photographs and squeezes are being documented and catalogued.
- Images from Cornell's Rare Book and Archival CollectionsWhere have the casts been over the years? Take a look at this growing collection of images from the general collections of the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library. Images are drawn from a variety of rare book collections, as well as the University Archives and other manuscript collections.
Databases & Collections
The library subscribes to or has built a number of image databases that are excellent sources of images you can download and add to your papers and other projects. You need to keep in mind that some of them have licensing restricts that prohibit the re-publication (including open web publishing, such as on a blog or on social networking sites) of images you download. There are also quite a few digital collections that are free and open on the web. Use the library Visual Resources page for links and information about how best to use ARTstor and other image databases.
Register to download
This tutorial guides users through the process of registering for an ARTstor user account.
Cornell Casts
- Cornell Cast CollectionCornell University once owned a collection of plaster casts of sculptures, gemstones and inscriptions from different cultures and periods such as the ancient Near East, ancient Egypt, ancient Greece and Rome (the majority), the European Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the 19th century. In addition, architectural models and details of architectural sculpture from the above-mentioned periods formed part of the collection together with more abstract drawing models for art students. This collection must have comprised about 2000 pieces (ca. 1000 being reproductions of gemstones), only a part of which has survived, often in very bad condition and distributed all over campus. The present database has several goals: curatorial, didactic, documentary and scholarly. First, it will give an idea of what has been preserved and is a step towards reuniting the remaining holdings, at least on a virtual basis. Moreover, the database can serve as the starting point for further possible restoration of the casts, since it allows for assembling the fragments of destroyed sculptures that sometimes are stored in different locations. Once complete, the database will help students and faculty alike to familiarize themselves with major monuments and artworks of the past.
Digital Collections
There are lots of great online collections that are free and open on the web, many of them on museum websites. Here are a few that may offer some good images of objects related to your research:
- ArachneArachne is produced by the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) and the Archaeological Institute of the University of Cologne. It provides archaeologists and Classicists with a free internet research tool for quickly searching hundreds of thousands of objects and their attributes.
- Ancient World Image Databank (via Flickr)The Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (NYU). uses Flickr to distribute free digital photography related to the ancient world as part of its Ancient World Image Bank initiative. All AWIB imagery is published under open license, to facilitate scholarly and educational reuse.
- Beazley Archive, Oxford Universityworld's largest collection of photographs of ancient Greek painted pottery, as well as relevant books and offprints, extensive material on the history of gem-collecting, and thousands of other documents and photographs relating to classical archaeology and to Sir John Beazley. Many of the Archive's images are available online, but the Archive's library remains a resource of central importance for research on classical art.
- British MuseumExcellent source of images of antiquity
- American Memory, The Library of CongressSubject categories: Advertising, African American History, Architecture, Landscape, Cities, Towns, Culture, Folklife, Environment, Conservation, Government, Law, Immigration, American Expansion, Literature, Maps, Native American History, Performing Arts, Music, Presidents, Religion, Sports, Recreation, Technology, Industry, War, Military, Women's History. Also see the Library of Congress Flickr Commons collection.
- Art Institute of ChicagoExplore thousands of artworks in the museum’s wide-ranging collection—from our world-renowned icons to lesser-known gems from every corner of the globe—as well as our books, writings, reference materials, and other resources.
- Brooklyn Museum Online CollectionsBrooklyn Museum's digital gallery contains over 90,000 digitized images from its collections. Users can browse, save, research, comment and tag. Wide-range of cultures, regions, and temporal periods represented.
- Getty Research Institute Open Content ImagesBrand new in October 2013. 5,400 newly available, high-resolution images from the Research Institute include drawings and watercolors, artists’ sketchbooks, rare prints from the 16th through the 18th century, 19th-century architectural drawings of cultural landmarks and 19th-century photographs of the Middle East and Asia.
- POP : la plateforme ouverte du patrimoine (French museum collections)French ministry of culture's site, in French. 500,000 records of objects (subject categories: archaeology, fine arts, ethnography, history, science & technology...).
- Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Online CatalogContains catalog records and digital images representing a rich cross-section of still pictures held by the Prints & Photographs Division and, in some cases, other units of the Library of Congress. Includes photographs, fine and popular prints and drawings, posters, and architectural and engineering drawings. While international in scope, the collections are particularly rich in materials produced in, or documenting the history of, the United States and the lives, interests and achievements of the American people.
- Metropolitan Museum of ArtSelected works of art in the Museum's collections. Also available (in higher resolution) from ARTstor.
- New York Public Library Digital GalleryProvides free and open access to over 800,000 images digitized from the The New York Public Library's vast collections, including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints, photographs and more.
- Yale University ImagesYale University Library Digital Images Database. Includes: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Digital Images (especially rich in American literature and Western Americana), the Yale Art Gallery and the Yale Map Collection.