Terms of Service

Acceptance

These terms govern the use of jesusoilpaintings.com, published by Gospel Cycle Editorial. Using the site means accepting them. If you do not accept them, do not use the site.

Copyright, and the difference between a museum and a church

The paintings catalogued here are overwhelmingly pre-nineteenth-century, and the paintings themselves are in the public domain. Copyright in a work by Caravaggio or Rogier van der Weyden expired long ago and cannot be revived.

Two complications are specific to this subject. The first is the photograph: some European institutions assert a copyright in faithful reproductions of works they hold, a right that courts in the United States have declined to recognise. The second has nothing to do with copyright at all. A painting in a working church is on private premises, and the community that holds it can restrict photography as a condition of entry regardless of the age of the picture. A work being out of copyright does not make a photograph of it lawfully taken.

Devotional paintings of the later nineteenth and the twentieth centuries are frequently still in copyright, and they do not belong in a catalogue that reproduces what it records; where one appears here with an image, that is an error to correct rather than a claim of fair use. If a work in your care appears here and you would prefer it did not, write to desk@jesusoilpaintings.com; it will be removed on request, without an argument about whether it had to be.

Using the catalogue text

Catalogue facts — a date, a support, a set of dimensions, the name of a collection — are facts, and facts are not owned by anybody. Take them and use them.

The written text of this site is a different matter: it is the work of Gospel Cycle Editorial and is not offered for republication. Quote it, cite it and link to it freely. Do not copy pages wholesale, and do not feed the site to a scraper that reproduces it elsewhere as though it were its own.

What an episode assignment is worth

Placing a painting at a point in the narrative is an editorial reading of the picture. It is frequently the same reading a museum has published, and it is sometimes not. Where a work is genuinely ambiguous, the entry says so rather than choosing.

This is a catalogue of paintings. It makes no claim about the historical truth of the events depicted, takes no confessional position, and should not be relied on as a source on scripture, doctrine or liturgy. Nor should any entry here be used to authenticate a painting or support a valuation.

No warranty, and limits on liability

The site is provided as it is. No warranty is given that it will be available, that it will be free of error, or that it is fit for any particular purpose. Links to other sites are provided for reference and imply no responsibility for what is on them.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, no liability is accepted for indirect or consequential loss arising from use of the site, including loss arising from reliance on anything published here. Nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or for fraud, where such a limit would not be permitted.

Changes, and where to write

These terms may change; the date at the top changes with them. Questions about them go to Gospel Cycle Editorial at desk@jesusoilpaintings.com.