I want to connect to a mySQL database with python, then query a number corresponding to an image, and load this image in Qt.  From what I found online, it is suggested not to use mysql database to store the image, but instead store a file location on the server.  If this is the case, can I load the image (do i have to download it?) into qt using mysql or do i have to open another connection with ftp, download the image to a folder, and then load it with qt?  If there are any resources on this type of workflow I would appreciate it.
You don't need to download the file using FTP (or the like) to load it into Qt.
Assuming the database stores the correct file path to the image, you can just use the same functionality once you get the file path, i.e. you anyway only need the file path to load the image into Qt. There is nothing special you would do by downloading the image itself.
If the database is on a remote server, a possible approach is to use the JDBC API to access the database, get the image as a binary file and then serialize it, which can be transferred over the network.
mySQL connection and loading images to Qt