The image database of the photo library of the German Institute for the History of Art in Florence (Max Planck Institute) contains some 20,000 high-resolution digital images of Italian works of art with detailed scientific documentation. The paper describes how the project came into being and provides information about the digitization process and the set-up of the information infrastructure. The focus is on specific issues regarding art image databases and the application of the open-source software products ZOPE, PLONE and DIGILIB. According to the institute?s guiding principle, which is the promotion of research in art history and the humanities, the image database is managed in compliance with a non-profit policy. For scientific purposes, access to the image database will be available free of charge and copies of the pictures will be provided without publication fees as far as possible.