The main image I use for the cover of The Spy and The Urchin and for the banner of this web site, is by Claude de Jongh, (View of London Bridge) and comes courtesy of the Yale Center for British Art (Paul Mellon Fund, B2005.4)

The reason I’m using this image rather than, say,

https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O134555/view-of-old-london-bridge-oil-painting-jongh-claude-de

or

https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/kenwood/history-stories-kenwood/old-london-bridge

is copyright or, rather, my unwillingness to fight these museums over copyright – more on this another time.

Acquiring the right to use a picture in a ‘commercial’ work is a tricky task and one that has had an airing on bluesky (bsky.app) – a social media app for those looking for an alternative to single letter social media – in the last week.

Dr Laura Sangha (@lsangha.bsky.social) asked for sources of public domain images, specifically for #EarlyModern period and if you follow the replies there are some great resources out there, though with a bias towards academic use. Happy image hunting everyone.