411 REFERENCE · Wikipedia
1785 in art
Reference material by Wikipedia contributors. This retains its source identity and is not 411 news reporting.
none
December 2025
October 2019
1785 art
Events from the year 1785 in art.
Events
27 April – The Royal Academy Exhibition of 1785 opens at Somerset House in London
April Joseph Wright of Derby holds a one-man exhibition in Covent Garden in London, having severed his official connection with the Royal Academy
25 August – The Salon of 1785 opens at the Louvre in Paris
Works
thumb|upright|Romney – Emma Hart as a Bacchante
thumb|Portrait of William Herschel by Lemuel Francis Abbott
thumb|A View near Matlock, Derbyshire by Philip James de Loutherbourg
Lemuel Francis Abbott – Portrait of William Herschel
William Beechey – Portrait of Edward Mileshttps://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435630 Sir William Beechey - Edward Miles (1752–1828) - The Metropolitan Museum of Art www.metmuseum.org 2026-10-09
Nicolas Benjamin Delapierre – Portrait of a Seated Gentleman
Jean Germain Drouais – The Wounded Warriorhttps://collections.louvre.fr/en/ark:/53355/cl010061844
Joseph Duplessis – Portrait of Benjamin Franklin (approximate date)
Thomas Gainsborough
Mr and Mrs William Hallett ('The Morning Walk')
Portrait of Sarah Siddons
Anton Graff – Self-portrait with his family
Hugh Douglas Hamilton – Lord Edward Stuart
Jean-Antoine Houdon – Portrait bust of George Washington
Adélaïde Labille-Guiard – Self-portrait with two pupils
Jacques-Antoine-Marie Lemoine – Portrait of Zamor
Isidro Lorea – Main altarpiece of Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral (carved wood)
Philip James de Loutherbourg – A View near Matlock, Derbyshire
Joshua Reynolds –
Portrait of James Boswell
Miss Theophila Gwatkin as Simplicity
Emma Hart as a Bacchante
George Romney – At least two portraits of Emma Hart
Alexander Roslin – Self Portrait while Painting the King of Sweden
Gilbert Stuart
Portrait of Benjamin West
Portrait of Isaac Barré
George Stubbs
Haymakershttps://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/stubbs-haymakers-t02256 ‘Haymakers‘, George Stubbs, 1785 Tate 2026-10-09
Reapershttps://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/stubbs-reapers-t02257 ‘Reapers‘, George Stubbs, 1785 Tate 2026-10-09
Joseph Wright of Derby – The Lady in Milton's Comus
Births
January 8 – Jan Baptiste de Jonghe, Belgian landscape painter (died 1844)
April 26 – John James Audubon, Haitian-born American naturalist and painter (died 1851)
September 1 – José Gil de Castro, Afro-Peruvian painter especially of portraits of Peru's heroes (died c. 1841)
September 26 – Charles Bird King, American portrait artist who notably paints Native American delegates visiting Washington, D.C. (died 1862)
October 12 – Henry Thomas Alken, English engraver, illustrator and sporting artist (died 1851)
October 31 – Georg Friedrich Kersting, German painter of Biedermeier-style interior paintings (died 1847)
November 18 – David Wilkie, Scottish painter and engraver (died 1841)
December 1 – Abraham Constantin, Swiss enamel painter (died 1851)
December 23 – Christian Gobrecht, American engraver (died 1844)
December 30 – Edouard Pingret, French painter and lithographer (died 1869)
date unknown
Pál Balkay, Hungarian painter and teacher (died 1846)
Daniel Havell, English engraver (died 1822)
Ignatius Josephus van Regemorter, Flemish historical, landscape and genre painter and engraver (died 1873)
probable – Bernardo Consorti, Italian line-engraver (died unknown)
Deaths
January 2 – Andrés de la Calleja, Spanish painter (born 1705)
April 13 – Michel-François Dandré-Bardon, French historical painter and etcher (born 1700)
May 8 – Pietro Longhi, Venetian painter (born 1701)
August 20 – Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, French sculptor (born 1714)Barton Eleanor Dodge Barton William D. Halsey Collier's Encyclopedia Pigalle, Jean Baptiste 1976 Macmillan Educational Corporation 19 New York 43
October 4 – Alexander Runciman, Scottish painter (born 1736)
October 19 – Hugues Taraval, French painter (born 1729)
December 14 – Giovanni Battista Cipriani, Italian painter and engraver (born 1727)
date unknown
John Hodges Benwell, English genre painter (born 1764; consumption)1 https://archive.org/stream/dictionaryofnati04stepuoft#page/319/mode/1up Benwell, John Hodges
Johannes de Bosch, Dutch painter, engraver and draughtsman (born 1713)
William Cochran, Scottish painter (born 1738)Cochran, William 1
Pietro Gaspari, Italian artist, known for veduta and capriccio in etchings and paintings (born 1720)
Jacques Fabien Gautier d'Agoty, French painter and printmaker (born 1716)
Jean-Baptiste Le Paon, French battle scene painter (born 1736/38)
José Luzán, Spanish Baroque painter (born 1710)
Krzysztof Perwanger, Polish sculptor and mayor (born 1700)
References
Category:Years of the 18th century in art
Category:1780s in art