Bibliothèque de l’Institut national d’histoire de l’art

INHA collection includes images drawn from three libraries that were merged to form one of the foremost international sources of information in the field of art history. 

There are three types of digitised documents in the collection: archives and manuscripts, graphic documents and printed materials. 

More than 12,000 drawings, plans and architectural surveys, dated from the 17th to the 19th c., are available, including hundreds of drawings from the Galerie du Palais-Royal. 

Various sets of antique artefacts, caricatures, historic prints of firework displays, urban development projects can be found alongside plans for private residences and townhouses, portraits of artists, views of cities and monuments. 

Collection includes rich holdings of prints by Goya, Manet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Redon, Cassatt, Gauguin and many others.

Links:
Drawings (1,952 images)
Prints (5,803 images)
Printed materials (9,157 images)
Archives & Manuscripts (596 images)

1. Visit https://bibliotheque-numerique.inha.fr/.
2. Click on a search field and press ‘Enter’.
Now you can see all collection items.

Direct link
22,703 items on 28/09/2019

If you wish us to curate this collection for creators, make it searchable by keywords and easy to use, please consider supporting our platform.

If you wish us to curate this collection for creators, make it searchable by keywords and easy to use, please consider supporting our platform.

Open licence is applied to some or all works, which are believed to be in the public domain in France (and most of the European countries).

There is no possibility to filter digital scans by open licence. 

To find digital scans under open licence, first, narrow down your search results:
1. Go to the main page with all collection items (see section ‘How to find images?’)
2. On the right side filter select these providers (‘Bibliothèque d’origine’):
a) ‘Bibliothèque de l’Institut National d’Histoire de l’Art, collections Jacques Doucet’ (15,388 images)
b) ‘Service des collections de l’Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts’ (6,566 images)
(You can only select one provider at a time)
Second, check each image individually if you are permitted to download them. If yes, they should be under an open licence.

More information by the provider:
Conditions utilisation
Open licence

Most original works are likely in the public domain in most of the European countries.

You can see in the Timeline (Tranche chronologique) on the right side that most of the works in this collection are created before 1949.

You can also check each image individually:
1. Go to the image page.
2. Identify all the authors and contributors.
3. Find the death date of the last living author.

If the last living author has passed away more than 70 years ago, most likely, his/her works are public domain in most of the European countries.

However, if you intend to use images for commercial purposes you might want to do additional checks to assess any risk. 

Please note, it is always your personal responsibility to make sure the work is out of copyright in all countries where you create and distribute your new creative works.

If you don’t know French, right click on a page and select ‘Translate to English’ (English version on this website is limited).

Go to the main page with all collection items (see section ‘How to find images?’). On the right side you will see filters which you can use to narrow down your search results:

• timeline
• publication date
• section
• type of work
• author
• period
• provider
• place

Go to the main page with all collection items (see section ‘How to find images?’). Here you can change:

• a number of results per page:
• how the results are sorted
• how the results are displayed:
  – as short records
  – as a mosaic of vignettes
  – as an interactive mapping
  – as a timeline

Go to the main page with all collection items (see section ‘How to find images?’).

If you don’t know French, right click on a page and select ‘Translate to English’ (English version on this website is limited).

Go to ‘Collections’ in the menu – this will allow you to explore the diversity of images by various topics.

Go to the image page. Click on the image itself to open it on a viewer. Below you will see a menu which allows you to:

• inverse the colors
• change saturation
• rotate image
• zoom in/out
• download
• print

Go to the image page, or, alternatively, click on an image itself to open it on a viewer. Now you will see:

• name of the author(s) (including death date)
• date of creation
• format
• place of publication

1. Go to the image page and click on it to open a viewer.
2. From there you can download an image by clicking on an arrow below the image.
3. Choose above ‘Download’ (‘télécharger’ in French).

Artist name, Title, Date. Bibliothèque numérique de l’INHA. Open licence (e.g. CC0 ) + a link

Share your new creative works using hashtags #RevivoStories @INHA_Bib!

Attribution guidelines are based on goodwill. They are not legally binding, but they are a secret way how to:
– Say ‘thank you’ to the most friendly for creators museums, archives and libraries.
– Encourage the release of new open collections for creativity.
– Inform and equip your fellow creators with new powers.