Help and support

If you experience any difficulties while using our website, or have any questions about our collections, please contact us:

London Picture Archive
London Metropolitan Archives
40 Northampton Road
London EC1R 0HB

Email: support@londonpicturearchive.org.uk

We will reply as soon as we possibly can and we aim to respond to all enquiries within five working days.

Favourites

Your Favourites list is session based, which means that when you exit the London Picture Archive by closing your browser tab or window, your Favourites list will be deleted. If you want to compile lists of London Picture Archive images over a longer period of time or plan to leave your browser open for several hours, we suggest using the option to ‘Create a PDF of Results’ on the Favourites page at regular intervals to ensure that you have a copy of your list.

Guildhall Art Gallery Picture Loan Scheme

The Picture Loan Scheme enables corporate and private borrowing of art not currently on display, provided that applicants demonstrate that they can offer suitable environmental and security conditions. Prospective borrowers should contact the Gallery to discuss their requirements. Following a site visit to assess conditions, a list of possible works will be sent to the applicant before a viewing is arranged at the Gallery. Loans are made for a maximum period of two years with the possibility of renewal and are governed by a legal agreement (currently under revision).

Contact the Gallery for further information including the scale of charges, email: guildhall.artgallery@cityoflondon.gov.uk

How to Place an Order: Prints and Digital files

To place an order for any image:

  • Make sure that you have registered as a London Picture Archive user and are logged in.
  • On any image page, select ‘Buy this image’.
  • Buying a print or digital file for personal use? Select option 1 in the first box marked ‘Use' and choose either private display or research and private study from the 'Category' box. Note that we provide you with a free 'licence' to use the image as part of the purchase, but no further action is required.
  • If you intend to reproduce or publish any of the images you purchase, you must obtain a licence with your image by selecting one of the 'Use' options numbered 2 to 7 and then providing the information requested. Please note that acknowledgement must always be made, as specified in our Image Usage Licence. Any permission granted applies to that occasion only, unless otherwise specified in the licence we provide. If you wish to reproduce the item(s) again, please contact us.

    The purchase of a photographic or digital copy does not in itself carry with it the right to make a reproduction in any form. Copyright (as defined by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988) in all copy material provided through London Picture Archive is reserved by London Metropolitan Archives and Guildhall Art Gallery.
  • Select a 'Media Option' by clicking 'add'. This displays an Image Usage Licence Summary which summarises your order. If you are happy to proceed, click 'Add to Basket'. If you have a question about the order that you'd like to submit before making a purchase, click 'Submit Query'.
  • You can continue shopping, adding more images to the basket.
  • Once you are ready to complete your order, click on the ‘Shopping Basket’ link at the top of the page.
  • You will see a list of the images you have selected, with a description of your order preferences and cost.
  • If you are ordering digital files, please select your preferred delivery method (via email or FTP – depending on file size; or on a CD via Royal Mail).
  • Once you have made your delivery selections, click ‘Proceed to checkout’.
  • The following ‘Checkout’ page shows an order summary, please review your order and amend your billing and delivery addresses if necessary.
  • Confirm that you have read our terms and conditions by ticking the box.
  • Selecting ‘Buy Now’ will take you to WorldPay to complete your payment.

You will receive an e-mail confirming acceptance of your order - at this point an agreement will exist between us.

We regret we cannot accept cancellation of any order to buy paper prints because they are printed to your specification, or cancellation of any order to download digital files because of they are prepared specifically for your order. This does not limit your rights in the case of faulty or damaged prints. Click here for more information on No Cancellation Rights.

We aim to complete and dispatch all standard orders within five working days. Orders for large numbers of prints or digital files may take longer and we will advise you of this when we process your order.

The purchase of a photographic or digital copy does not in itself carry with it the right to make a reproduction in any form. Copyright (as defined by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988) in all copy material provided through London Picture Archive is reserved by London Metropolitan Archives and Guildhall Art Gallery.

Non-Commercial Images

Some of the images which appear on the London Picture Archive are not available to purchase as a print or a digital file. If this is the case, purchase options will not appear alongside the image.

‘No Web Image’

In some cases, we are unable to display images from the Guildhall Art Gallery collection due to copyright restrictions. However, the description of the image is made available here for reference purposes. For further information on these images, please contact Guildhall Art Gallery (email: guildhall.artgallery@cityoflondon.gov.uk).

Print Sizes and Digital File Sizes

This website provides access to our standard print sizes and digital file services. If you require a print in a different size please contact us. We are able to provide large format prints and can arrange prints on a wide variety of media. If you require digital files in specifications which vary from those which area available here, please contact us. Again, we are able to provide a wide range of services to meet your requirements. Please log in and use the ‘Tell us about this image’ form on the image page, or email or call us quoting the relevant London Picture Archive Record Number(s) for the images you require in your message.

Using Images in Talks, Dissertations, Books etc.

The vast majority of images on this website are available for a wide range of uses. We apply a range of charges to these uses and you must obtain a reproduction licence from us in all cases. Please see the "How to place an order" section above for further information.

Searching for People and Communities

Our image subjects offer a useful way to browse the images. You can access the subjects through the Advanced Search page. We have introduced two groups of subjects within the ‘People‘ and ‘Society > Community’ subject hierarchies. The introduction of these subjects is a step towards making the retrieval of historical memory more easily and widely accessible, especially to historically marginalized people.

Images may be tagged with more than one of the subjects – for example, one image could have more than one of the ‘People’ subjects attached to it, as well as more than one of the ‘Community’ subjects. Where we are not certain about the heritage of a person in an image, and it is possible that more than one of the subjects could be relevant, we have applied both.

The subjects listed for the categories ‘People’ and ‘Community’ are not exhaustive, but reflect research carried out so far in tracing people and communities within the images. More subjects will be added once images have been found in collections.

We acknowledge that it is very difficult to classify images in this manner and that we cannot be precise in some cases. However, we believe that making these images more easily and widely accessible is important, and that the subjects offer the most effective way to access the images (note that we do not attempt to describe the heritage or ethnicity of people in image titles and descriptions and keyword searches will therefore not produce results).

Please note that some of the images linked to these subjects contain terms and imagery which are offensive, outdated and insensitive. The images are included to reflect the fullest picture of London’s history and this can be a painful experience today. Their inclusion is not an endorsement of such language or imagery, or an uncritical tolerance of the perpetuation of such language or imagery.

Take Down Policy

In making material available online, we act in good faith and endeavour to mitigate the risk of damage to third parties by reviewing and checking the copyright status of material wherever feasible, and, where possible, contacting rights-holders for permission to make material available. The terms and conditions of use of all digital content are made clear to users at point of access. For further information, please review our Take Down Policy on the London Metropolitan Archives website.