The Walters Art Museum believes that digital images of its collection extend the reach of the museum. To facilitate access and usability, we choose to make digital images of artworks believed to be in the public domain available for use without limitation, rights- and royalty- free.
While the implications of copyright are handled differently around the world, the rights of the artist supersede all other rights. The majority of the Walters’ digital photography represents works that are no longer protected under the work creators’ copyright and are therefore considered to be in the public domain. “Public domain” is defined as a work that is no longer protected by copyright due to ineligibility, expiration, or surrender. All statements of public domain by the Walters are in good faith.
Because the Walters owns or has jurisdiction over the objects in its collection and owns or customarily obtains the rights to any imaging of its collection objects, it has adopted the Creative Commons Zero: No Rights Reserved or CC0 license to waive copyright and allow for unrestricted use of digital images and metadata by any person, for any purpose. The longer text descriptions about the artworks on this website are released under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Exceptions to the CC0 license may apply to works of art that are under the Walters’ temporary jurisdiction, such as loaned works, and works that are not in the public domain due to age. The policy governing the CC0 license does not apply to works protected by artists’ copyright, by privacy rights, or works that are otherwise restricted. In these cases, the Walters can only provide a small derivative image that meets the fair-use guidelines as outlined by the Association of Art Museum Directors.
The information necessary for the proper citation of the Walters’ works can be found on the object records of our online catalog. Properly citing and crediting works from the Walters helps to steward the collection by connecting the museum with the works of art it maintains. Please credit images to “The Walters Art Museum.”
The museum’s CC0 license applies to digital images of works in the Walters’ archives and library collections that are believed to be in the public domain, free of other restrictions, and are made available through the Walters’ electronic interfaces. If you have questions regarding the rights status of a work or have trouble locating specific images, please contact the Department of Publication and Digital Production at [email protected].