LibGuides: Citation : Chicago

Image Citations: Chicago Style

Citing Images Using Chicago Style

Typically, images are not cited in the bibliography. Rather the information necessary to locate an image is included in an image caption. When formatting image citations in Chicago style, follow the guidelines below and reference the placement of credit lines in The Chicago Manual of Style Online:

Images should be labeled Figure, abbreviated to Fig., followed by an assigned number,
and given a caption.
Caption details include the artist’s name, the title of the artwork, date, materials, measurements, repository, physical location, source, and credit link.
The source of the artwork is where you referenced the image. It could include a book, article, database, museum website or artist's website.

Image Sources

Format

Figure Number. Artist Name, Artwork title, Date created. medium, measurements. Repository, city, state. Available from: image database, URL (accessed Month Day, Year). © credit line information.

**TIP: If artist is unknown put "unknown artist"

Example: Downloaded image from JSTOR

Figure 6. Marcel Duchamp, Bicycle Wheel. 1995, oil painting, 51 x 25 x 16 1/2 inches.
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York.
Available from: JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/community.14555071 (accessed October 18, 2024). © Marcel Duchamp; 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Format

Fig. Number. Artist/Creator, Title, date, materials, measurements, repository/location. Source. figure/plate number referenced in the print source. © credit line which includes copyright owner.

Example

Figure 7. Helen Frankenthaler, Europa, 1957, oil on unprimed canvas, 179.1 x 137.8 cm, Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, New York, New York. Frankenthaler, Helen, and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. After Mountains and Sea : Frankenthaler 1956-1959. New York, NY: Guggenheim Museum, 1998. fig. 3. © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Format

Figure Number. Artist/Creator, Title. Date, materials, measurements. Museum repository, location. From: Repository, URL. © credit line which includes copyright owner.

Example: Downloaded image from museum repository

Fig. 3. Berenice Abbott, Jane Heap. ca. 1928, gelatin silver print, 24.1 x 18.7 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. From: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/261798. © Berenice Abbott / Commerce Graphics Ltd. Inc.