Linked Art API: Visual Works

Last refreshed: 2026-07-06

Source: Visual Works endpoint, part of Linked Art API 1.0, published under CC BY 4.0. This is a project summary; the upstream page is authoritative.

Purpose

The Visual Work endpoint describes image content, such as the appearance of paintings and two-dimensional artworks, sculptures and three-dimensional artworks, or digital images. It models visual content as a `VisualItem`, separate from the physical object that shows it and the digital object that digitally shows or represents it.

This endpoint is related to the Object Aboutness model: visual works can be about entities, represent known entities, or represent instances of types when the individual depicted entity is not separately identified.

Required Shape

A Visual Work endpoint record dereferences to one JSON-LD object:

• `@context`: Linked Art context URI, or an array ending with that URI for extensions.
• `id`: dereferenceable HTTP(S) URI for the visual work.
• `type`: `VisualItem`.

Recommended Fields

• `_label`: developer-facing label.
• `classified_as`: classifications following the `Type` structure, such as style or genre.
• `identified_by`: `Name` and/or `Identifier` structures.

Optional Fields

• `referred_to_by`: statements about the visual work, such as descriptions.
• `equivalent`: external identities.
• `member_of`: set membership.
• `subject_of`: textual works focused on the visual work.
• `attributed_by`: relationship assignment evidence.
• `dimension`: abstract dimensions of the visual work, such as visual height or width.
• `part_of`: another `VisualItem` or `LinguisticObject` that contains the visual work as a part.
• `conceptually_part_of`: a `PropositionalObject` that the visual work is conceptually part of.
• `about`: entities that the visual work is primarily about.
• `represents`: known entities represented or depicted by the visual work.
• `represents_instance_of_type`: types represented or depicted when the individual entity is not known.
• `subject_to`: rights held over the intellectual work.
• `created_by`: `Creation` event for creation of the image content.
• `used_for`: publication or similar `Activity`.

Common Incoming Relationships

• `representation` from any endpoint whose entity is represented by visual content.
• `shows` from a Physical Object, when a physical object shows the visual content.
• `digitally_shows` from a Digital Object, when a digital asset or service digitally shows the visual content.

Meta Museum Notes

Meta Museum already preserves Visual Work semantics through object, digital object, and record fixtures. Existing coverage keeps carrier/content/surrogate boundaries explicit: physical `HumanMadeObject` records can show `VisualItem` content, `DigitalObject` records can digitally show visual content, and object records can carry `representation[]` references without treating image files, depicted content, and physical artworks as the same entity. Future endpoint-specific coverage should keep `about`, `represents`, and `represents_instance_of_type` distinct.

Test Ideas

• Preserve `VisualItem` role coverage for visual records through `/api/records/{id}` and any dedicated visual-work endpoint.
• Preserve `about`, `represents`, and `represents_instance_of_type` without collapsing known entities into generic types.
• Preserve image-content creation as `created_by` `Creation`, with actor and timespan when present.
• Preserve visual dimensions as `dimension`, separate from physical object measurements.
• Preserve carrier boundaries: physical objects use `shows`, digital objects use `digitally_shows`, and visual content remains a distinct `VisualItem`.