Image licensing

Every portrait needs a clear right to appear

Biography Compass uses public-domain, openly licensed or permission-based images. Public credits are collected in the directories below rather than repeated beneath photographs. Select a photograph or follow the image-licensing link in the footer to find its record.

Accepted image sources

We prefer institutional archives and Wikimedia Commons files with a documented creator, source and licence. Creative Commons images are used under their stated terms. Because this site carries advertising, non-commercial licences are not treated as permission to republish. Public-domain status must be supported by the source record rather than assumed from an image’s age or online availability.

Attribution and machine-readable rights

Public credit records retain the creator or institution, supplied notices, format/crop changes and available original source and licence links. Biography structured data also provides the credit, licence URL and source page when available, helping search engines and readers trace reuse conditions.

Complete-image presentation

Portraits are displayed with a fitted foreground image so the original frame is not cropped. Surrounding space may use a neutral background or a decorative backdrop without replacing or obscuring the original image.

Placeholders

When we cannot verify a suitable reusable portrait, we use a typographic initials panel. We do not copy an unlicensed photograph simply to fill an empty space.

Portrait source and licence records

Every displayed portrait is listed, including existing records whose original source or licence links remain under review. An incomplete record is not a new permission grant. Previously withheld photographs are not listed as available for reuse. Full supplied image frames and existing credit/modification notices are retained.

Decorative archive illustrations

The country, collection, history and people directories use original AI-generated editorial still-life illustrations. These are decorative, not historical records, maps for reference or portraits of real people. They are converted proportionally to WebP without cropping.

Rights concerns

A dedicated rights-contact channel is not yet published. When a documented attribution or licence concern reaches the project owner, we will investigate and remove or correct the image when warranted. Related standards appear in our editorial standards and corrections policy.