It’s important to note that Public Domain is a legal status indicating that no current copyright exists on a given work of art. A work of art cannot be legally considered to be in the Public Domain unless it was created by the US government, was created before copyright and patent law was established, or if the copyright term on a given work has expired.

An artist’s copyright is indestructible under the Berne convention and thus an artistic work cannot be legally conveyed to the public domain by direct intention or neglect.

Under your supposition, there’s the potential that you might be legally entitled to reproduce an artistic work within your photograph under the Fair Use provision of copyright law, but as with many areas of the US legal system, there isn’t a simple litmus test to determine legality.

For example, the shot on your page under “street” of the two women viewing the painting is technically a reproduction of an artistic work that could be seen to be in violation of copyright law (depending on the country of capture and the age of the painting in question). But, there is also the good possibility that the way in which you depict the painting can be interpreted to be a “fair use” under the US copyright law.

Either way, the tricky aspect of copyright law and fair use is that it must be litigated in a court of law to reach a firm conclusion on a case-by-case basis. There is no universally permissible way to reproduce another’s artistic work if there is a valid copyright in existence…we have only guidelines to suggest what might be acceptable.

Either way, Love the shots on your site, especially all your “business” samples.