Examples of Citing Images in Footnotes: 3 Practical Examples (Plus More You’ll Actually Use)

Instead of starting with abstract rules, let’s begin with what you probably searched for: examples of citing images in footnotes: 3 practical examples you can copy and adapt.

I’ll walk you through three core scenarios you’re likely to face:

• An artwork from a museum website
• A figure from a scholarly article
• A stock photo from an image database

Then we’ll expand with more real examples so you can handle almost anything your professor throws at you.

Throughout, I’ll lean on Chicago-style notes and bibliography, since it’s widely used for history, art history, and many humanities courses. I’ll also flag how MLA-style notes differ, because some instructors want footnotes even when the official style leans on in-text citations.

1. Artwork from a Museum Website (Chicago Footnote Example)

Let’s start with a classic: you’re writing about a famous painting you found on a museum site.

Imagine you’re citing Vincent van Gogh’s “The Starry Night" from the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) website in a Chicago-style footnote.

A good footnote might look like this:

1. Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Night, 1889, oil on canvas, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, accessed March 5, 2025, https://www.moma.org/collection/works/79802.

Why this works:

• Creator: Vincent van Gogh
• Title: The Starry Night (italicized like a work of art)
• Date: 1889 (date of creation, not the date you accessed it)
• Medium: oil on canvas
• Location: The Museum of Modern Art, New York
• Access info: accessed date + URL

This is one of the best examples of citing images in footnotes because it shows all the key elements for an artwork: who made it, what it’s called, what it is, where it lives, and where you saw it online.

If your instructor wants a shorter version, you can trim the medium and location:

1. Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Night, 1889, accessed March 5, 2025, https://www.moma.org/collection/works/79802.

You can confirm Chicago art citation patterns with resources like the Chicago Manual of Style Online (subscription-based, but many schools provide access) and university writing centers such as Purdue OWL.

2. A Figure from a Scholarly Article (Image Within a Source)

Next scenario: you’re not citing a standalone artwork, but a figure, chart, or graph inside a journal article you found through your library.

Suppose you’re using Figure 2 from a 2024 public health article in a journal hosted on a .gov site.

Your Chicago-style footnote might look like this:

2. Maria Lopez and Daniel Kim, “Trends in Adolescent Sleep Duration, 2010–2024,” Journal of Public Health Research 15, no. 1 (2024): 45, fig. 2, accessed April 10, 2025, https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/research/example-article.

What’s going on here:

• You cite the article first (authors, title, journal, volume, issue, year, page).
• Then you point to the specific image with fig. 2.
• Finally, you include access date and URL if you viewed it online.

This is a realistic example of citing images in footnotes when the image is part of a larger scholarly work. You’re not treating the image as a separate source; you’re treating it as part of the article.

If you’re using MLA-style footnotes for commentary, you might see something like:

2. Maria Lopez and Daniel Kim, “Trends in Adolescent Sleep Duration, 2010–2024,” Journal of Public Health Research 15.1 (2024): 45. Figure 2 illustrates the decline in average sleep duration.

The MLA version focuses on the in-text description of the figure rather than labeling it directly as fig. 2 in the citation, but the idea is the same: you’re guiding the reader to the exact visual you used.

For more on citing figures in academic articles, university libraries like Harvard Library offer style-specific guides.

3. Stock Photo from an Image Database (Permission & Credit)

Now for a very modern situation: you grabbed a stock photo from a site like Unsplash or a subscription database for a class project or thesis.

Let’s say you downloaded a photo of a classroom by photographer Jane Smith from a university image database.

A Chicago-style footnote could look like this:

3. Jane Smith, Students in Modern Classroom, photograph, 2023, University of Michigan Image Bank, accessed February 20, 2025, https://images.lib.umich.edu/modern-classroom.

Key pieces:

• Creator: Jane Smith
• Title/Description: Students in Modern Classroom (if there’s no formal title, use a brief description in plain text)
• Format: photograph
• Year: 2023 (date the image was created or uploaded, if given)
• Database name: University of Michigan Image Bank
• Access info: accessed date + URL

This is a strong example of citing images in footnotes when you’ve pulled visuals from a curated digital collection.

If you’re using a free stock site with a requested credit line, you might combine their preferred wording with your style:

3. Photo by Jane Smith on Unsplash, accessed February 20, 2025, https://unsplash.com/photos/example.

Always check the license and any required credit text. Many educational institutions now provide guidance on using and citing open images in their copyright policies, such as the University of Michigan Library copyright guide.

Beyond the Core 3: More Real Examples of Citing Images in Footnotes

Those three practical cases cover a lot, but your assignments will throw more at you. Here are more real examples of citing images in footnotes: 3 practical examples expanded into a fuller toolkit.

Historical Photograph from a National Archive

Suppose you’re writing a history paper and you use a Library of Congress photograph from 1943.

Chicago-style footnote:

4. Gordon Parks, Washington, D.C. Government Charwoman, photograph, 1943, Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information Collection, Library of Congress, Washington, DC, accessed January 15, 2025, https://www.loc.gov/item/2016648332/.

This example of a historical image shows how to:

• Credit the photographer
• Name the collection
• Identify the institution (Library of Congress)
• Include access date and URL

Government archives like the Library of Congress and National Archives are common sources for student papers, and their records usually provide all the details you need.

Image from an Online Textbook or Open Educational Resource

Many courses now use open educational resources (OER) instead of traditional textbooks. These are often hosted at universities or on .org sites.

Imagine you’re using an anatomy diagram from an open textbook hosted by a university press.

5. “Structure of the Human Heart,” diagram, in OpenStax Anatomy and Physiology, 3rd ed. (Houston: OpenStax, 2024), chap. 18, fig. 18.3, accessed March 10, 2025, https://openstax.org/details/books/anatomy-and-physiology.

Here, the image is clearly part of a larger textbook, so your example of a footnote citation:

• Names the figure
• Cites the book as a whole
• Points to the specific chapter and figure number

OpenStax and similar projects (often supported by institutions like Rice University) publish updated textbooks, so checking the latest edition year (like 2024) helps keep your citation current.

Infographic from a Government Health Site

Health and social science papers often use infographics from .gov or .org sites. Let’s say you use a CDC infographic on flu vaccination rates.

6. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Flu Vaccination Coverage, United States, 2023–24 Season, infographic, last modified October 18, 2024, accessed April 1, 2025, https://www.cdc.gov/flu/fluvaxview/coverage-2023-24-infographic.html.

This is one of the best examples of citing images in footnotes when the creator is an organization, not a person:

• Organization as author: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Title of the infographic
• Format: infographic
• Last modified date (if given)
• Access date and URL

You can find similar materials on sites like CDC.gov and NIH.gov, which are commonly used in health and nursing programs.

Chart You Created Based on Someone Else’s Data

Here’s a subtle one many students miss: you created the chart, but the data comes from someone else. You still need a footnote crediting the original source.

Imagine you built a chart in Excel using obesity statistics from an NIH report.

7. Author’s chart based on data from National Institutes of Health, Adult Obesity Trends in the United States, 2010–2024, NIH Publication No. 24-1234 (Bethesda, MD: National Institutes of Health, 2024), 12, accessed March 30, 2025, https://www.nih.gov/obesity-trends-report.

This example of a footnote does two things at once:

• Makes clear you created the visual ("Author’s chart")
• Credits the original data source (NIH report)

This pattern is especially useful in STEM, public health, and social science papers where you’re constantly turning raw data into your own visuals.

How to Build Your Own Footnote from These Patterns

If you scan all these examples of citing images in footnotes, 3 practical examples and the extras, a pattern emerges. Most image footnotes answer five questions:

1. Who created it? (Person or organization)
2. What is it called or what does it show? (Title or description)
3. When was it created or last updated?
4. Where does it live? (Museum, archive, journal, website, database)
5. How did you access it? (Online? In print? Include URL and access date if online.)

Once you fill in those blanks, you just rearrange them to match your style guide.

Chicago vs. MLA: Quick Contrast for Image Footnotes

In Chicago notes and bibliography, your image footnote usually looks like the examples above: full citation in the note, often with a matching entry in the bibliography.

In MLA 9, you usually rely on in-text citations and a Works Cited list, but if your instructor allows or prefers footnotes for images, you can:

• Describe the image in the text or note
• Use a shortened citation pointing to the Works Cited entry

For instance, an MLA-style note for the Van Gogh example might say:

1. See Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Night (1889), Museum of Modern Art, New York, MoMA.org.

The full citation would then appear in your Works Cited list.

For detailed style breakdowns, many universities maintain updated guides, such as Purdue OWL’s MLA and Chicago sections.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Citing Images in Footnotes

Even with the best examples in front of them, students tend to repeat the same mistakes:

• Leaving out the creator: Writing “Image from CDC website” instead of naming the agency or photographer.
• Skipping the date: Not including either the creation date or the last updated date, which matters when data changes over time.
• Using only the URL: Dropping a naked link in a footnote with no context.
• Ignoring figure numbers: Forgetting to specify fig. 2 or fig. 3 when the image is part of a larger work.
• Not checking assignment instructions: Some instructors want every image cited in a footnote and listed in the bibliography; others only want a credit line.

Whenever you’re unsure, look back at these real examples of citing images in footnotes. 3 practical examples are often enough to get you 90% of the way there; then you tweak details like punctuation and italics to match your style guide.

FAQ: Short Answers About Image Footnotes

Do I always need a footnote for an image in a research paper?

If the image is not your own original work, you almost always need some form of credit. Whether that’s a full footnote, a short caption with a note, or just a Works Cited entry depends on the style guide and your instructor’s rules. When in doubt, cite it.

Can you give another example of citing an image in a footnote from a website?

Sure. Here’s a simple example of an image from a nonprofit organization’s site:

8. American Heart Association, How the Heart Works, diagram, 2024, accessed April 2, 2025, https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/how-the-heart-works.

This follows the same pattern as our earlier examples: creator (organization), title, format, date, and URL.

Do I need to include the URL for images from databases like JSTOR or ProQuest?

In many cases, yes—especially if your style guide or professor requests URLs or DOIs for online sources. Some databases use stable URLs or DOIs, which are preferred. If the database URL is extremely long or requires login, check your style guide’s advice; sometimes a DOI or database name is enough.

What if the image has no title or no date?

If there’s no title, use a brief description in plain text (for example, “Map of trade routes in 1600"), not italics. If there’s no date, use “n.d.” (no date) in styles that allow it, or rely on the access date and context. Still, try to find at least an approximate year if the archive or website gives one.

Should I put image citations only in footnotes, or also in the bibliography?

Chicago often expects both: a full note and a corresponding entry in the bibliography for major sources. Some instructors, especially in undergraduate courses, may accept footnotes alone for images. Always check your assignment sheet or ask your professor.

If you keep these patterns handy, you’ll never have to guess again. Use these examples of citing images in footnotes: 3 practical examples—plus the extra ones here—as templates. Swap in your own creator, title, dates, and URLs, and you’ll have clean, professional image citations every time.