Art Institute of Chicago vs DummyImage

The Art Institute of Chicago publishes its full collection of 130,000+ objects as a versioned, keyless REST API (api.artic.edu/api/v1) built on the same data that powers its own website and mobile app, with IIIF-based endpoints for zoomable, high-resolution images. A live GET against a real artwork record returned genuine JSON carrying Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *, reconfirming both auth None and cors yes with no key required.

DummyImage generates placeholder images on the fly from a simple URL pattern — width, height, background/text color, and format (PNG, GIF, or JPG) are all encoded in the path — with no signup or key. A live GET against the real host returned a genuine PNG carrying Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *, resolving cors unknown -> yes and reconfirming auth None.