Getting Started - Image Resources for Biblical Studies

Introduction

Welcome! This guide is designed to help you find art and images related to biblical texts.

William Blake, Ancient of Days

William Blake, The Ancient of Days, 1794 [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Other Resources

Oxford Art Online
Find out more about an artist or artistic movement, in this reference database

Library Catalog
Search the library catalog for books on art and artists

List of books about the Bible in Art
List of books about Saints in Art

Image Databases & Websites

ARTstor (Duke Users Only)
Large image database covering art, architecture, and archaeology across many time periods and cultures. It is an excellent starting point for finding high-quality images related to biblical texts. See tips for using ARTstor below.
Art Concordance
Very useful website for finding images by: biblical theme, scriptural text, or lectionary date. Note: this is a free website and some links may be broken. You can take the information from the image (author, title) and cross-reference it with Duke’s subscription database, ARTstor, to find higher quality images. Author: Jenee Woodard
Biblical Art on the Web
Another useful site for finding images by: biblical subject, biblical text, artist, or keyword search. Author: Rolf E. Stærk
ATLA Cooperative Digital Resources Initiative
These digitized images include scans of text, art, and mp4 video files curated by the American Theological Library Association. Images are available for academic use with the attribution listed on the site.
Eikon: Image Database for Biblical Studies (Yale Univ.)
A faculty-library initiative at Yale Divinity School that provides digital resources for teaching and research in the field of Biblical studies.
Art in the Christian Tradition (Vanderbilt Univ.)
Designed for scholars, students, pastors, and religious educators, all of the images may be used for educational and/or religious non-profit purposes. Images are added regularly.
Index of Christian Art (Princeton Univ.)
A thematic and iconographic index of early Christian and medieval art objects.
CAMIO (Duke Users Only)
Provides images of fine and decorative art forms from prominent museums. Images are licensed for educational use.

ARTstor Tips

Tips for finding biblical images in ARTstor:

Creating a FREE account will give you advanced options for saving & organizing images (see Tips for saving, etc. below).
Enter the ARTstor Digital Library page and go to the Advanced Search page
If you have a unique keyword associated with your search (e.g. Nebuchadnezzar), you can enter it into the search box; then hit search
Use “ ” to search for a phrase (e.g. "Garden of Eden")
If you have a really general name/term (e.g. David), try combining the search phrase "Old Testament" with the name/term you would like to search (e.g. "Old Testament" and David)
Select "Title" or "Creator" from the search box dropdown, if you want to search for a specific artist or work

Tips for saving, downloading, & presenting images using ARTstor

Creating a FREE account in ARTstor will allow you to organize, save, and use images offline; Click on the 'Register' link in the upper right side of the screen to create an account (use your .edu email address to register)
Having trouble? Check out ARTstor's Troubleshooting Tips
ARTstor guide to Organizing Images & Presenting Images on and offfline
Add Personal Notes by clicking on the caption underneath the thumbnail view of an image, then select the 'Personal Notes' tab
Still have questions? Contact the Divinity School library for help!