The Met's Open Acces for Scholarly Content

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is offering rights-cleared access to over 400,000 digital images of objets d'art in their collection. 

Works that are covered by the new policy are identified on the Museum’s website (http://www.metmuseum.org/collections) with the acronym OASC. Like this one:

Mary Cassatt's The Barefoot Child

And yes, they have works that are not the product of Western Civilization. Because we should enjoy them as well. 

Read the full announcement here:

OASC was developed as a resource for students, educators, researchers, curators, academic publishers, non-commercial documentary filmmakers, and others involved in scholarly or cultural work. Prior to the establishment of OASC, the Metropolitan Museum provided images upon request, for a fee, and authorization was subject to terms and conditions.
Additional information and instructions on OASC can be found on the Museum’s website at http://www.metmuseum.org/research/image-resources/frequently-asked-questions.

The civilization most concerned with property rights is also concerned about sharing the results of creative work. Because Western Civilization should be shared and celebrated.

Image credit: http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/377420