diff --git a/lib/screencap/raster.js b/lib/screencap/raster.js
index b5beac6..57d8033 100644
--- a/lib/screencap/raster.js
+++ b/lib/screencap/raster.js
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 // - maxRenderWait [optional] - default 10000 - the maximum time to wait before taking the screenshot, regardless of whether resources are waiting to be loaded
 // - cutoffWait    [optional] - default null - the maximum time to wait before cutting everything off and failing...this helps if there is a page taking a long time to load
 // - top, left, width, height [optional] - dimensions to use to screenshot a specific area of the screen
+// - auth          [optional] - Basic auth (ie. 'username:password') option if required by URL
 //
 // == Important notice when providing height ==
 //
@@ -28,7 +29,9 @@ var page           = new WebPage(),
     mask           = null,
     forcedRenderTimeout,
     renderTimeout,
-    cutoffTimeout;
+    cutoffTimeout,
+    userName,
+    password;
 
 //
 // Functions
@@ -58,6 +61,11 @@ function pickupNamedArguments() {
     if(args.resourceWait)  { resourceWait = args.resourceWait; }
     if(args.maxRenderWait) { maxRenderWait = args.maxRenderWait; }
     if(args.cutoffWait)    { cutoffWait = args.cutoffWait; }
+    if(args.auth)          {
+      pair = args.auth.split(/:/);
+      userName = pair[0];
+      password = pair[1];
+    }
 }
 
 function setupMask() {
@@ -108,8 +116,16 @@ function evaluateWithArgs(func) {
     return page.evaluate(fn);
 }
 
+function setBasicAuthentication() {
+  if (args.auth) {
+    page.settings.userName = userName;
+    page.settings.password = password;
+  }
+}
+
 function takeScreenshot() {
     cutoffExecution();
+    setBasicAuthentication()
     page.open(args.url, function(status) {
         if(status !== 'success') {
             console.log('Unable to load: ' + args.url);
diff --git a/spec/fetcher_spec.rb b/spec/fetcher_spec.rb
index ddeb3e7..743c5a0 100644
--- a/spec/fetcher_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/fetcher_spec.rb
@@ -31,4 +31,10 @@
     screenshot = Screencap::Fetcher.new('http://google.com?1=2&3=4').fetch(:output => TMP_DIRECTORY + 'ampersand.jpg', :width => 800)
     FastImage.size(screenshot)[0].should == 800
   end
+
+  it 'should support basic auth' do
+    url = 'http://www.httpwatch.com/httpgallery/authentication/authenticatedimage/default.aspx?' + "0.#{rand(99999999)}" # hosted example requires fresh seed
+    screenshot = Screencap::Fetcher.new(url).fetch(:output => TMP_DIRECTORY + 'httpwatch.jpg', :auth => 'httpwatch:screencap', :width => 300, height: 60)
+    FastImage.size(screenshot)[0].should == 300
+  end
 end