Hello kentmans,
Thanks for posting in Apple Support Communities. The Mail app on your iMac is not loading your images, just text. Right?
Does this happen with one email account or all? Are you using a VPN currently? That can help isolate where the issue occurs. It looks like you reviewed If you can’t send or receive email on your Mac which is great but it sounds like you are getting your emails. In this case, check out If you see 'Unable to load remote content privately' at the top of an email which might help further explain why these images aren't loading.
Also, go to Mail > Preferences > Viewing and make sure that 'Load remote content in messages' is selected.
Take care.