Citation Examples: Image and Artwork

MLA 9 citation examples coming soon! See below for MLA 8 examples.

Here are some example citations for images and artwork. They are based on MLA 8 guidelines. A Works Cited page should be double spaced within and between citations. To save room, we only single spaced. When a citation requires more than one line, the second line and any lines that follow should have a hanging indent. That means the first line of each citation aligns with the left margin, and all additional lines are indented half an inch.

Use the Image and Artwork template to cite physical objects that you experienced firsthand.

For citing images that you saw in a book, periodical, database, or Web site, MLA gives you two options:

  1. Cite the image/artwork and the source you found it in by using the Artwork template.   
  2. Or, identify the author and title of the image/artwork in the body of your paper, and then only cite the source you found the image/artwork in. In that case, you would use the Book, Periodical Article, or Web Site template to create the citation.

If you are not sure which option to choose, ask your teacher.

Artifact

Example – artifact, untitled (you provide a description), unknown creator, estimated date, viewed in a museum

Covered wagon. Circa 1860, Oregon Historical Society, Portland.

Artwork

Example – painting, titled, viewed in a museum

Monet, Claude. Garden at Sainte-Adresse. 1867, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Example – painting, titled, viewed in a book

Monet, Claude. Garden at Sainte-Adresse. 1867. Monet, by Christoph Heinrich, Taschen, 2015, p. 21.

Example – painting, titled, viewed in a book; since artist and title of painting are named in the body of the paper,  only the book is cited

Heinrich, Christoph. Monet. Taschen, 2015, p. 21.

Example – painting, titled, viewed in a book, found in a library database

Monet, Claude. Garden at Sainte-Adresse. 1867. Monet, by Christoph Heinrich, Taschen, 2015, p. 21. Gale Virtual Reference Library, www.gale.com/gvrl.

Example – painting, titled, viewed in a book, found on a Web site that is not the painter’s own Web site

Monet, Claude. Garden at Sainte-Adresse. 1867. Monet, by Christoph Heinrich, Taschen, 2015, p. 21. Free Art eBooks, www.freeartebooks.org/monet142.

Example – painting, titled, viewed on a museum Web site

Monet, Claude. Garden at Sainte-Adresse. 1867. The Met, www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/437133.

Example – painting, titled, viewed in a database, but the image was not part of an article or book

Monet, Claude. Rouen Cathedral, Blue Harmony, Morning Sun. 1894. Research In Context, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=MSIC&sw=w&u=
     port&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CEJ2210004742&asid=bd932ff8b6498587c2f191fb3eb4ad62.

Example – sculpture, titled, viewed in an outdoor public space

Johnson, John Seward, II. Allow Me. 1983, Pioneer Courthouse Square, Portland.

Example – sculpture, titled, viewed in a newspaper article

Johnson, John Seward, II. Allow Me, 1983. “Where is Portland’s Famous ‘Umbrella Man’?,” by Lizzie Acker. The Oregonian [Portland], 26 Jan. 2017, p. A6.

Example – sculpture, titled, viewed in a newspaper article, found in a library database

Johnson, John Seward, II. Allow Me. 1983. “Where is Portland’s Famous 'Umbrella Man'?,” by Lizzie Acker. The Oregonian [Portland], 26 Jan. 2017, p. A6. Research In Context,
      www.gale.com/ric/12345.

Example – sculpture, titled, viewed on a Web site

Johnson, John Seward, II. Allow Me, 1983. Pioneer Courthouse Square, thesquarepdx.org/visitor-information/design-features.

Example – glass sculpture, titled, viewed in person

Chihuly, Dale. Glasshouse Sculpture. 2012, Chihuly Garden and Glass, Seattle.

Example – glass sculpture, titled, viewed in a magazine, found on the magazine’s own Web site

Chihuly, Dale. Glasshouse Sculpture. 2012. “Dale Chihuly’s Glass Sculptures Go on Display in Seattle,” by Elizabeth Stamp. Architectural Digest, 30 June 2012, www.architecturaldigest.com/
      story/artist-dale-chihuly-sculptures-garden-and-glass-seattle.

Example – glass sculpture, titled, viewed on Web site that is not the artist’s, no article author, no publisher, no publication date for the Web site

Chihuly, Dale. Glasshouse Sculpture, 2012. “Chihuly Garden & Glass: Ground Up Construction.” Schuchart, www.schuchart.com/project/chihuly-garden-glass. Accessed 5 September 2017.

Image (that is not artwork)

Example – image, titled, found in a book, viewed on a Web site

Mayes, Marge. “Label the Wagon Parts - Key.” 2016. The Oregon Trail: Teachers Resource Supplement, by Bureau of Land Management, 2016, p. 13. National Historic 
     Oregon Trail Interpretive Center’s History and Educational Resources, www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/Learn_interp_nhotic_teachguide.pdf.

Example – photograph, titled, found in a book, viewed in a library database

Cross, Cameron. “Wagon on the Oregon Trail.” [Circa 20??]. Junior Worldmark Encyclopedia of the States, edited by Drew Johnson, et al., 6th ed., UXL, 2013. Student Resources In
     Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/EJ2220015554/SUIC?u=port&xid=fe9bdb5e.

Example – untitled photograph of The Muleteer (you provide a description), found on a blog, no known date for the image, no known publisher for the Web site, no known Web site publication date

Sheldon, Natasha. Photograph of The Muleteer. “Human Remains in Pompeii: The Body Casts,” by Natasha Sheldon, 23 Mar. 2014. Decoded Past, decodedpast.com/human-remains/7532.

Note: Because the photograph is untitled, you will choose "No, it does not have a title" for this prompt on the Image template on Citation Maker: "Does this image or artwork have a title?" Therefore, no part of the title will be italicized or in quotes. Because The Muleteer is a known piece of artwork, you will need to manually change those words to italics in the citation. 

Example – photograph of an elephant (that you took while at a local zoo), untitled (you provide a description), known date for the image, from your personal collection

Garcia, Mario. Photograph of an elephant. 11 Oct. 2017. Author's personal collection. 

Example – image found In a database, titled, but the image was not part of an article or book, no known artist/author of the image, no known publication date

Space Station. 2015. Research In Context, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=MSIC&sw=w&u=psulib&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CPC4205140929&asid=2e1c2fcc96960c8dea25ee842ab90661. 
     Accessed on 1 Aug. 2017.  

Example – map, titled, viewed on a Web site, added the name of the government (United States) in front of corporate agency name, included optional element (map) as a descriptor to identify the type of image (but had to add it after the citation was created), no known publication date

United States, Bureau of Land Management. The Oregon Trail. Map. National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center’s History and Educational Resources, www.blm.gov/sites/blm.gov/files/
    learn_interp_nhotic_trailmap.pdf. Accessed 5 Sept. 2017.