Citing an artwork you see online in MLA
 

MLA citation format:

Artist’s Last Name, Artist’s First Name. Title of Artwork OR description. Year of creation. Name of Website, URL.

Example:

Leutze, Emmanuel. Washington Crossing the Delaware. 1851. The Met, www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/11417.

In-text citation:

Here’s how the above example would be cited in an in-text citation:

(Artist Last Name)

(Leutze)

Formatting notes

Artist’s name: 

Write the artist’s name with their last name first followed by a comma and then their first name, just as you would the author of a book. If they have a middle initial or name list it after the first name. Put a period after the first name or middle name/initial if one is given. If the artist is listed or described as “Anonymous,” put Anonymous. If no artist is credited for the work, just start with the next step, the title of the work.

Title of the piece: 

After the author’s name, put the title in italics, followed by a period. Capitalize nouns, verbs, pronouns, and adverbs. If there is no title given, provide a short and un-italicized description with regular sentence capitalization. For example, you could write “Untitled portrait of King Henry VIII” or “Red rose on yellow background.”

Year and location: 

Next you will need to write the year the painting was made followed by a comma. Then put the piece’s current location by writing the name of the website where you accessed the painting in italics. And finally, include the URL of the artwork’s webpage, starting with “www.” Add a period at the end of the citation.

Citing a painting you see in person in MLA

To cite a painting you see in person in MLA style, simply follow the same format as online, but replace the name of the website with the name of the gallery/museum (not italicized) followed by a comma and the city where the museum is located.

Format:

Artist’s Last Name, Artist’s First Name. Title of Artwork OR description. Year of creation, Museum, City.

MLA example:

Leutze, Emmanuel. Washington Crossing the Delaware. 1851, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.

In-text citation:

Here’s how the above example would be cited in an in-text citation:

(Artist Last Name)

(Leutze)

Formatting notes

Artist’s name:

Write the last name of the artist followed by a comma and then the first initial and middle initial if one is given followed by a period. If the artist is unknown, then skip this step and start the citation with the title of the work as described in the next step. If the artist is listed as anonymous/unknown, use that as the name.

Year and title of the piece:

After the artist’s name put the year the painting was created in parentheses followed by a period. Then put the title of the painting in italics using sentence case. Then put the medium or materials used in brackets, followed by a period.

Location:

After the medium put the name of the museum where the piece is currently on display followed by a comma. Then put the city where the museum is located followed by a comma. Next, if the museum is in the United States, put the abbreviation for the state followed by a comma, and then put United Staes followed by a period. For all other countries, put the name of the country instead of the state followed by a period.

Website:

Next add the direct URL for the webpage where you viewed the painting, including https://www. You should not put a period after the URL.