diff --git a/beetsplug/fetchart.py b/beetsplug/fetchart.py
index a609333d7..886a59250 100644
--- a/beetsplug/fetchart.py
+++ b/beetsplug/fetchart.py
@@ -179,7 +179,8 @@ def art_for_album(album, paths, maxwidth=None, local_only=False):
                 break
 
     # Web art sources.
-    if not local_only and not out:
+    remote_priority = config['fetchart']['remote_priority'].get(bool)
+    if not local_only and (remote_priority or not out):
         for url in _source_urls(album):
             if maxwidth:
                 url = ArtResizer.shared.proxy_url(maxwidth, url)
@@ -219,6 +220,7 @@ class FetchArtPlugin(BeetsPlugin):
         self.config.add({
             'auto': True,
             'maxwidth': 0,
+            'remote_priority': False,
         })
 
         # Holds paths to downloaded images between fetching them and
diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index 9b73214e5..4db6e5cf0 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ New configuration options:
 * :ref:`max_filename_length` controls truncation of long filenames. Also, beets
   now tries to determine the filesystem's maximum length automatically if you
   leave this option unset.
+* :doc:`/plugins/fetchart`: The ``remote_priority`` option searches remote
+  (Web) art sources even when local art is present.
 * You can now customize the character substituted for path separators (e.g., /)
   in filenames via ``path_sep_replace``. The default is an underscore. Use this
   setting with caution.
diff --git a/docs/plugins/fetchart.rst b/docs/plugins/fetchart.rst
index 7af1cd1c1..2ea9211f9 100644
--- a/docs/plugins/fetchart.rst
+++ b/docs/plugins/fetchart.rst
@@ -75,6 +75,10 @@ When you choose to apply changes during an import, beets searches all sources
 for album art. For "as-is" imports (and non-autotagged imports using the ``-A``
 flag), beets only looks for art on the local filesystem.
 
+By default, remote (Web) art sources are only queried if no local art is found
+in the filesystem. To query remote sources every time, set the
+``remote_priority`` configuration option to false.
+
 Embedding Album Art
 -------------------