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× Veterans Day: The Sherrill and Moriarty Libraries will be closed on Monday, November 11th.
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Fine Arts

Reference Images

If you need a reference image of an artwork, scroll down for tips!  If you need reference images of other stuff, ask yourself:

  • Do I need to see versions of the reference images digitally AND in print?
  • Do I want photographs of objects, or examples of those objects in paintings?
  • Where would authentic, high quality images live? 
    • For example, if you need reference images of birds, instead of taking your chances with a Google image search, think to yourself "who would spend the time and money to publish high quality bird reference images? A: Audubon would have a searchable tool on their website or I can borrow books from the library.
  • Should I look for an image bank with multiple images I can browse through?

High Resolution Scanning

As scanning technology advances, museums are spending more time and money to create extremely high quality scans of every centimeter of a painting, so you can zoom into every detail without losing quality.  The Lesley Library pays for Artstor, a database of these images available in the JSTOR database.  Search for something specific, or browse these fine arts categories:

Some scans are so advanced they are hosted on the museum website instead of Artstor, so try searching online for high quality scan of *name of work* to see if you can find an even better scan.  Check out some examples of museums using the latest technology below.

3D Works