diff --git a/assets/components/gallery/images/album-empty.jpg b/assets/components/gallery/images/album-empty.jpg
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..42d511e
Binary files /dev/null and b/assets/components/gallery/images/album-empty.jpg differ
diff --git a/core/components/gallery/docs/changelog.txt b/core/components/gallery/docs/changelog.txt
index 4dfa488..6f3af19 100755
--- a/core/components/gallery/docs/changelog.txt
+++ b/core/components/gallery/docs/changelog.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 Changelog for Gallery.
 
+Gallery 1.5.2
+====================================
+- [#217] Add default cover when using GalleryAlbums with cover displays and no item is in the album
+
 Gallery 1.5.1
 ====================================
 - Add DB caching to Gallery and GalleryAlbums snippets, reducing page load times
diff --git a/core/components/gallery/model/gallery/galalbum.class.php b/core/components/gallery/model/gallery/galalbum.class.php
index 6ee10a7..1a78251 100644
--- a/core/components/gallery/model/gallery/galalbum.class.php
+++ b/core/components/gallery/model/gallery/galalbum.class.php
@@ -241,7 +241,7 @@ public function getCoverItem($albumCoverSort = 'rank',$albumCoverSortDir = 'ASC'
         if ($this->xpdo->getCacheManager()) {
             $cache = $this->xpdo->cacheManager->get($cacheKey);
         }
-        if (!$cache) {
+        if (!$cache || true) {
             $c = $this->xpdo->newQuery('galItem');
             $c->innerJoin('galAlbumItem','AlbumItems');
             $c->where(array(
@@ -250,8 +250,22 @@ public function getCoverItem($albumCoverSort = 'rank',$albumCoverSortDir = 'ASC'
             $c->sortby($albumCoverSort,$albumCoverSortDir);
             $count = $this->xpdo->getCount('galItem', $c);
             $c->limit(1);
+
             /** @var galItem $item */
             $item = $this->xpdo->getObject('galItem',$c);
+            if (empty($item)) {
+                $assetsUrl = $this->xpdo->getOption('gallery.assets_url',null,$this->xpdo->getOption('assets_url',null,MODX_ASSETS_URL).'gallery/');
+                if (strpos($assetsUrl,'http') === false && defined('MODX_URL_SCHEME') && defined('MODX_HTTP_HOST')) {
+                    $assetsUrl = MODX_URL_SCHEME.MODX_HTTP_HOST.$assetsUrl;
+                }
+                $item = $this->xpdo->newObject('galItem');
+                $item->fromArray(array(
+                    'name' => '',
+                    'filename' => $assetsUrl.'images/album-empty.jpg',
+                    'absolute_filename' => true,
+                    'active' => true,
+                ));
+	        }
             $item->set('total',$count);
             $cache = $item->toArray();
             $this->xpdo->cacheManager->set($cacheKey,$cache);
diff --git a/core/components/gallery/model/gallery/galitem.class.php b/core/components/gallery/model/gallery/galitem.class.php
index e720043..1dc9915 100644
--- a/core/components/gallery/model/gallery/galitem.class.php
+++ b/core/components/gallery/model/gallery/galitem.class.php
@@ -28,8 +28,13 @@ public function get($k, $format = null, $formatTemplate= null) {
             case 'thumbnail':
                 $value = $this->getPhpThumbUrl();
                 if (empty($format)) $format = array();
-                $format['src'] = $this->getSiteUrl();
-                $format['src'] .= $this->xpdo->call('galAlbum','getFilesUrl',array(&$this->xpdo)).$this->get('filename');
+                $filename = $this->get('filename');
+                if ($this->get('absolute_filename')) {
+                    $format['src'] = $filename;
+                } else {
+                    $format['src'] = $this->getSiteUrl();
+                    $format['src'] .= $this->xpdo->call('galAlbum','getFilesUrl',array(&$this->xpdo)).$filename;
+                }
                 $url = $value.'&'.http_build_query($format,'','&');
                 if ($this->xpdo->getOption('xhtml_urls',null,false)) {
                     $value = str_replace('&','&',$url);
@@ -40,9 +45,13 @@ public function get($k, $format = null, $formatTemplate= null) {
                 break;
             case 'image':
                 if (empty($format)) $format = array();
-                $format['src'] = $this->getSiteUrl();
-                $format['src'] .= $this->xpdo->call('galAlbum','getFilesUrl',array(&$this->xpdo)).$this->get('filename');
-
+                $filename = $this->get('filename');
+                if ($this->get('absolute_filename')) {
+                    $format['src'] = $filename;
+                } else {
+                    $format['src'] = $this->getSiteUrl();
+                    $format['src'] .= $this->xpdo->call('galAlbum','getFilesUrl',array(&$this->xpdo)).$filename;
+                }
                 $value = $this->getPhpThumbUrl().'&'.http_build_query($format,'','&');
                 $value = $this->xpdo->getOption('xhtml_urls',null,false) ? str_replace('&','&',$value) : $value;
                 break;