When I was putting together my game, I used tons of public domain art from various sources; I heavily edited them in GIMP afterwards, but still. Here is my cache of originals ; I highly recommend these websites as well: Public Domain Review Old Book Illustrations OBI Blog Old Book Art From Old Books National Gallery of Art OpenClipArt Unsplash Flickr: The British Library (start here) Flickr: Internet Archive Book Images Flickr: Subject: Fantasy Flickr: Maps from the British Public Library Flickr: Arthur Layard from the British Library Flickr: Ghosts & Ghoulish Scenes from the British Library Answer from yochaigal on reddit.com
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MoMa UK
moma.co.uk › public-domain-images
Public Domain Images For Artists - 25+ Collections | MoMa UK
November 24, 2024 - A public domain image is one that is free of known copyright around the world. As the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 outlines: “You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.” ...
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National Gallery of Art
nga.gov › artworks › free-images-and-open-access
Free Images and Open Access | National Gallery of Art
Free open access image downloads are now available directly from the object pages located on this website. Close to 60,000 images are available for download, and we will continue to add more images for free access as more works are photographed and as works of art enter the public domain.
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Art Institute of Chicago
artic.edu › open-access › open-access-images
Open Access Images | The Art Institute of Chicago
The Art Institute of Chicago is pleased to offer free, unrestricted use of over 50,000 images of works in the collection believed to be in the public domain or to which the museum otherwise waives any copyright it might have.
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A Home Is Announced
ahomeisannounced.com › the best sources for free public domain art online
The Best Sources For Free Public Domain Art Online - A Home Is Announced
April 17, 2025 - The ultimate guide to the best open access art collections for high-res public domain images and copyright free art online
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The Metropolitan Museum of Art
metmuseum.org › about-the-met › policies-and-documents › open-access
Open Access - The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Data about The Met collection, including over 492,000 images of public-domain artworks, is available for free and unrestricted use.
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ArtisanHD
artisanhd.com › home › official blog of large format printer artisanhd in phoenix, az › public domain art: 10 places to find the best free to use images
Public Domain Art:10 Places to Find the Best Free to Use Images
March 7, 2025 - There are many benefits to using public domain art to decorate your home or office. Save money: These images are free to download, just pay for printing.
Address   8970 East Bahia Drive #104, 85260, Scottsdale
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Public Domain Image Archive
pdimagearchive.org
Public Domain Image Archive
Explore our hand-picked collection of 10,875 out-of-copyright works, free for all to browse, download, and reuse. This is a living database with new images added every week. or · Browse by Categories Enter “Infinite View” · Browse by: artist · century · style ·
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The Public Domain Review
publicdomainreview.org
The Public Domain Review
The Public Domain Review is dedicated to the exploration of curious and compelling works from the history of art, literature, and ideas – focusing on works now fallen into the public domain, the vast commons of out-of-copyright material that everyone is free to enjoy, share, and build upon without restrictions.
Find elsewhere
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A Home Is Announced
ahomeisannounced.com › public domain print shop
Public Domain Print Shop - A Home Is Announced
October 5, 2025 - Browse and download a curated collection of FREE vintage art prints from the public domain. High-resolution printable wall art home decor.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/osr › any good public domain art sources?
r/osr on Reddit: Any good public domain art sources?
December 1, 2019 -

Where are all these content creators getting their art from? Specifically I'm referring to the romantic era painting styles or to the old fashioned newspaper print style illustrations like those seen in magical industrial revolution. This instagram is a good example of what I mean.

I'm working on my own little rule set and fantasy/fairy tale/lovecraftian setting for my games that's set in the very late medieval/early victorian/regency era and would love to have some illustrations to populate my player handbooks. Some day I'd like to start blogging/publishing the setting, but currently there's no way I could commission any art work.

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Julie Blanner
julieblanner.com › home › design guides, decor & tips › free art sources
17 of the Best FREE Public Domain Art Sources | Julie Blanner
March 6, 2024 - Your favorite decorating shops actually use public domain art, and now you can, too! I'm sharing the best art sources to download for FREE.
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Rawpixel
rawpixel.com › category › 53 › public-domain
Public Domain | rawpixel
We are sourcing and digitally enhancing thousands of antique books and chromolithographic plates to unlock the inspirational design treasures of the past. As part of our commitment to give everyone access to the best public domain creative resources we are making these high resolution creative commons images available with a CC0 License.
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Cleveland Museum of Art
clevelandart.org › open-access
Open Access | Cleveland Museum of Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art is proud to be an open access institution, offering the public the ability to download, share, collaborate, remix, and reuse images of public-domain artworks from the museum’s collection, as well as metadata for ...
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Skeleton Code Machine
skeletoncodemachine.com › p › public-domain-art-resources
Public domain art resources - by Exeunt Press
April 4, 2023 - Artvee has a collection of over 200,000 public domain paintings, drawings, posters, and illustrations. I’ve found this to be one of the best resources for full color paintings. While the low resolutions files (e.g. 1152 x 1800px) are free, you’ll need to upgrade to Artvee Pro for $7.99 USD/month to get the high resolution images (e.g.
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Sincerelymolly
sincerelymolly.com › 2022 › 02 › where-to-find-free-art-using-public.html
Where to Find Free Art Using the Public Domain — Sincerely Molly
My understanding is that the public domain is work without restrictions that can be reused and remixed freely. For more, check out the Creative Commons. It's a great resource! Always check for the appropriate attribute regarding a work being in the public domain or not. Advanced Searches on these sites often have a box to check off to view open access art or ones without copyright restrictions.
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University of Toronto
guides.library.utoronto.ca › c.php
Public Domain and Creative Common Collections - Free Images: Creative Commons and Public Domain - Research Guides at University of Toronto
Images are collected from sources which either place their images in the public domain, abandon their copyright, or have expired copyright. Public Domain images are considered to be freely available for any use by the public.
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Public
public.work
Public Work by Cosmos
Public Work is a visual search engine for public domain content. Explore 100,000+ copyright-free images from The MET, New York Public Library, and other sources
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Hampshire
resourceguides.hampshire.edu › c.php
Online resources for public domain or rights-free images - Images - Resource Guides at Hampshire College
Powered by the Art Genome Project. Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) "The DPLA is a large-scale, collaborative project across government, research institutions, museums, libraries, and archives to build a digital library platform to make America’s cultural and scientific history free and publicly available online.
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Mun
guides.library.mun.ca › images
Home - Public Domain & Creative Commons Images - Subject Guides at Memorial University of Newfoundland Libraries
Metropolitan Museum of Art Open Access Artworks National Gallery of Art: 50,000 public domain works. Paris Musees: 320,000 public domain images from Parisian museums, palaces and Catacombs. PD Poster: Vintage posters in the public domain. Reusable Art: Free vintage images in the public domain.