Wholesale oil paintings

I would like to make an oil painting reproduction site, which will include many photographs of old paintings. My friend is an artist, he was a lot of photographs, these paintings. I would like to use it. But I am worried that it’s copyright.

There are many ancient site, I found pictures of almost the same. Who does have the copyright? Or whose license? I can not believe that the mandate of the site, all of these thousands of photos.

My friend has been collecting these photos ten years or more. He could not remember clearly from there. Can I use it?

When it comes to a very old painting of the copyright, there would have been the artist painting the meeting may have already expired. However, if the picture taken by Joe Blow, Joe Blow is a painting and then the copyright owner, and his picture … So, unless your friend is in these pictures, photos, he is protected by copyright of the photographer.