1878 in art

none December 2025 1878 art Events from the year 1878 in art. Events 1 May – The Exposition Universelle opens in Paris, including a large section devoted to the Fine Arts 6 May – The Royal Academy Exhibition of 1878 opens at Burlington House in London 25 May – The Salon of 1878 opens at the Palace of Industry in Paris 25 November – 26 – James McNeill Whistler's libel case against English art critic John Ruskin over a scathing 1877 review of Whistler's painting Nocturne in Black and Gold – The Falling Rocket is heard in the High Court of Justice in London. Whistler wins a farthing in nominal damages and only half of the costs, leading to his bankruptcy, and alienates patrons. French critic Théodore Duret publishes the pamphlet Les Peintres impressionistes. Czech painter Karel Klíč perfects the photogravure process. Works thumb|300px|W.F. Yeames – And When Did You Last See Your Father? Category:1878 sculptures Ivan Aivazovsky – Sea View by Moonlight Jules Bastien-Lepage Les Enfants Pecheurs ("The child fishers") Les Foins ("Haymaking") Reinhold Begas – Mercury and Psyche (marble, Berlin, Germany) Emmanuel Benner – Lakeside Dwelling Gustave Caillebotte Bather about to dive The Canoes (Museum of Fine Arts of Rennes) Fisherman on the bank of the Yerres The Orange Trees Rue Halévy: view from the sixth floor View of rooftops, effect of snow Mary Cassatt In the Loge Portrait of the Artist Eduard Charlemont – The Moorish Chief William Merritt Chase A Fishmarket in Venice The Mandolin Player Stanisław Chlebowski – Sultan Bayezid prisoned by Timur James Collinson – The Holy Family Evelyn De Morgan – Night and Sleep Maurycy Gottlieb – Jews Praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur Peter Graham – Wandering Shadowshttps://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/4982 Jean-Jacques Henner The Magdalene Portrait of M. Hayem Ivan Kramskoi – Portrait of the Artist Alexander Litovchenko Robert Walker Macbeth – Sedge Cutting in Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire, early morning Édouard Manet At the Café Blonde Woman with Bare Breasts (Musée d'Orsay, Paris) The Plum The Rue Mosnier with Flags Jan Matejko – Battle of Grunwald John Everett Millais The Bride of Lammermoor A Jersey Lily The Princes in the Tower Pierre-Auguste Renoir – Madame Georges Charpentier and her children Ilya Repin – Self-portrait Briton Rivière An Anxious Moment Persepolis Auguste Rodin – The Walking Man (bronze) Félicien Rops – Pornocrates Dante Gabriel Rossetti The Blessed Damozel (probable completion date) A Vision of Fiammetta John Singer Sargent – Setting Out to Fishhttps://www.nga.gov/artworks/166472-en-route-pour-la-peche-setting-out-fish August Friedrich Schenck - Anguish Alfred Sisley – Snow at Louveciennes (Musée d'Orsay, Paris) Elizabeth Thompson – Listed for the Connaught Rangers James Tissot Kathleen Newton In An Armchair Seaside Viktor Vasnetsov – The Knight at the Crossroads Hubert von Herkomer – Eventide: A Scene in the Westminster Unionhttps://artuk.org/discover/artworks/eventide-a-scene-in-the-westminster-union-98861 Eventide: A Scene in the Westminster Union Art UK 17 December 2025 James McNeill Whistler – Effie Deanshttps://www.rijksmuseum.nl/nl/collectie/object/Arrangement-in-Yellow-and-Gray-Effie-Deans--895b07048d5aa8628495e274abf24f74 William Frederick Yeames – And When Did You Last See Your Father? (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool) Births 4 January – Augustus John, Welsh painter (died 1961) 16 January – Karl Isakson, Swedish painter (died 1922) 14 February – Bohumil Kafka, Bohemian Czech sculptor (died 1942) 27 February – Max Silberberg, German Jewish industrialist and art collector (killed after 1942) 12 March – Gerda Höglund, Swedish religious painter (died 1973) 27 March – Kathleen Bruce (later Lady Scott), English sculptor (died 1947) 28 March – Abraham Walkowitz, American Modernist painter (died 1965) 1 April – Alfred Flechtheim, German art dealer, collector and publisher (died 1937) 2 April – Émilie Charmy, French artist (died 1974) 24 April – Jean Crotti, French painter (died 1958) 26 May – Spencer Gore, English painter (died 1914) 9 August – Eileen Gray, Irish furniture designer and architect (died 1976) 7 October – Feliu Elias, Spanish caricaturist and painter (died 1948) 8 October – Alfred Munnings, English equine painter (died 1959) 14 November – Julie Manet, French painter and art collector (died 1966) 23 November – Frank Pick, English transport administrator and patron of art and design (died 1941) 24 November – Norman Wilkinson, English marine artist (died 1971) 27 November – William Orpen, Irish portrait painter (died 1931) Deaths January 26 – Théophile Schuler, French painter and illustrator (born 1821) February – Tito Angelini, Italian sculptor (born 1806) February 9 – Nicolas Gosse, French historical painter (born 1787) February 19 George Paul Chalmers, Scottish painter (born 1833; died as the result of a street attack) Charles-François Daubigny, French painter (born 1817) February 26 – Alexandre Antigna, French painter (born 1817) March 3 – Joseph Bonomi the Younger, English sculptor, artist, Egyptologist and museum curator (born 1796) April 14 – Ludovic Piette, French impressionist painter (born 1826) April 23 – Jaroslav Čermák, Czech historical painter (born 1831) May 25 – Antoine Laurent Dantan, French academic sculptor (born 1798) June 10 – Tranquillo Cremona, Italian painter (born 1837) June 16 – Kikuchi Yōsai, Japanese painter most famous for his monochrome portraits of historical figures (born 1788) August 21 – Conrad Martens, English-born landscape painter (born 1801) October 5 – Francis Grant, Scottish painter (born 1803) November 11 – Robert Havell, Jr., English principal engraver of Audubon's The Birds of America (born 1793) November 16 – Đura Jakšić, Serbian painter and poet (born 1832) December 19 – Joseph Nash, English watercolour painter and lithographer (born 1809) date unknown – Amédée Faure, French portrait painter (born 1801) References Category:Years of the 19th century in art Category:1870s in art