OpenGlyph — Catalogue of the American Public DomainJurisdiction: United StatesRev. 2026.08
Images / art

Two archives, queried live.

Every record below comes from The Met or Smithsonian Open Access and was filtered on that archive’s own rights field before it reached this page. 23 shown for “The Return of the Prodigal Son” — 64 records examined, 19 dropped by the rights gate.

Archives queried 2026-09-01 15:54 UTC · fetched live for this request

Object
Public domainThe Met’s isPublicDomain field is true for this object.
CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian’s metadata_usage.access reads CC0 — a waiver, not an expired term.
Not shownAnything failing its archive’s rights field is dropped server-side and never appears here.
The Return of the Prodigal Son, by Lucas van Leyden

The Return of the Prodigal Son

Lucas van Leyden · ca. 1510

Public domainThe Met
The Return of the Prodigal Son

The Return of the Prodigal Son

Artist not stated in the record · ca. 1730

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
The Return of the Prodigal Son, by Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn)

The Return of the Prodigal Son

Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn) · 1636

Public domainThe Met
Return of the Prodigal Son

Return of the Prodigal Son

Artist not stated in the record · 1510

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
The Return of the Prodigal Son, by Sebald Beham

The Return of the Prodigal Son

Sebald Beham · 1540

Public domainThe Met
The Prodigal Son Returned to His Father by D.W. Kellogg and Company, by D.W. Kellogg and Company

The Prodigal Son Returned to His Father by D.W. Kellogg and Company

D.W. Kellogg and Company · ca 1838

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
The Return of the Prodigal Son, by Andrea Schiavone (Andrea Meldola)

The Return of the Prodigal Son

Andrea Schiavone (Andrea Meldola) · ca. 1536–40

Public domainThe Met
Return of the Prodigal Son by Henry R. Robinson, by Robinson, Henry R.

Return of the Prodigal Son by Henry R. Robinson

Robinson, Henry R. · 1840

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
The Return of the Prodigal Son, by Lombardy- The Veneto

The Return of the Prodigal Son

Lombardy- The Veneto · mid-16th century

Public domainThe Met
The Prodigal Son Returned to His Father by E.B. and E.C. Kellogg, by E.B. and E.C. Kellogg

The Prodigal Son Returned to His Father by E.B. and E.C. Kellogg

E.B. and E.C. Kellogg · ca 1847

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
The return of the Prodigal Son, by Anonymous, 17th century

The return of the Prodigal Son

Anonymous, 17th century · 1650–1700

Public domainThe Met
Pillow cover

Pillow cover

Artist not stated in the record · 17th century

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
The Prodigal Son Feeding Swine by Henry R. Robinson, by Robinson, Henry R.

The Prodigal Son Feeding Swine by Henry R. Robinson

Robinson, Henry R. · 1840

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
The Banquet for the Return of the Prodigal Son, by Abraham Bosse

The Banquet for the Return of the Prodigal Son

Abraham Bosse · ca. 1636

Public domainThe Met
The Prodigal Son Receiving His Portion by Henry R. Robinson, by Robinson, Henry R.

The Prodigal Son Receiving His Portion by Henry R. Robinson

Robinson, Henry R. · 1840

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
The Banquet for the Return of the Prodigal Son, by Abraham Bosse

The Banquet for the Return of the Prodigal Son

Abraham Bosse · ca. 1636

Public domainThe Met
The Prodigal Son in Misery by D.W. Kellogg and Company, by D.W. Kellogg and Company

The Prodigal Son in Misery by D.W. Kellogg and Company

D.W. Kellogg and Company · ca 1838

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
The Return of the Prodigal Son, by Vincenzio Vangelisti

The Return of the Prodigal Son

Vincenzio Vangelisti · 1764–98

Public domainThe Met
The Prodigal Son Wastes His Patrimony by Henry R. Robinson, by Robinson, Henry R.

The Prodigal Son Wastes His Patrimony by Henry R. Robinson

Robinson, Henry R. · 1840

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
The return of the prodigal son who falls at his father's feet, by Andrea Schiavone (Andrea Meldola)

The return of the prodigal son who falls at his father's feet

Andrea Schiavone (Andrea Meldola) · ca. 1536–40

Public domainThe Met
The Prodigal Son Receiving His Patrimony by D.W. Kellogg and Company, by D.W. Kellogg and Company

The Prodigal Son Receiving His Patrimony by D.W. Kellogg and Company

D.W. Kellogg and Company · ca 1838

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
The Crucifixion with the Virgin and Saint John, by Hendrick ter Brugghen

The Crucifixion with the Virgin and Saint John

Hendrick ter Brugghen · ca. 1624–25

Public domainThe Met
The Prodigal Son in Misery by E.B. and E.C. Kellogg, by E.B. and E.C. Kellogg

The Prodigal Son in Misery by E.B. and E.C. Kellogg

E.B. and E.C. Kellogg · ca 1847

CC0 (public-domain equivalent)Smithsonian
What was queried

Where these records came from.

Two archives are wired, and only two. Each one is filtered on its own rights field — never on a title match, and never on the presence of an image file.

  • The Met Collection API (Open Access)Rights field: isPublicDomain. 19872 matched · 24 examined · 3 dropped by the rights gate. Kept only where isPublicDomain === true and a file URL was published.12 shown
  • Smithsonian Open Access API (api.si.edu)Rights field: content.descriptiveNonRepeating.metadata_usage.access. 2984976 matched · 40 examined · 16 dropped by the rights gate. Kept only where metadata_usage.access === "CC0" and an image resource was published.12 shown

These figures describe the pass run at 2026-09-01 15:54 UTC, during this request. A completed pass is kept for 24 hours and replayed for an identical search, which is what keeps repeated queries inside Smithsonian’s 30-requests-per-hour allowance. A pass in which either archive failed to answer is never kept — an outage must not be replayed as though it were a finding about the catalogue.

Wikimedia Commons and the Library of Congress are deliberately not wired. Wikimedia was confirmed, on a live query, to return CC-BY material inside the same result set as genuine public domain works, and filtering it safely has not been designed yet. loc.gov was blocked by bot detection during the source evaluation, so its rights vocabulary has never been observed — and nothing here is built on a field nobody has read.

An image file is a rights claim. It never travels without its field.