1787 in art

Overview of the events of 1787 in art

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Events from the year 1787 in art.

Events

Seventeen-year-old Thomas Lawrence arrives in London and takes lodgings near Sir Joshua Reynolds.

Antonio Canova - Tomb of Pope Clement XIV
Jacques-Louis David – The Death of Socrates (completed)
Thomas Gainsborough
- Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire
- Mrs. Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Francisco Goya
- Highwaymen Attacking a Coach
- The Snowstorm (Winter)
- The Swing
Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun – Marie Antoinette and her Children (completed)
Jacques-Antoine-Marie Lemoine – Portrait of a Woman with Her Son and Daughter in a Balcony Window
George Romney – Mrs Jordan as Peggy
Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein – Goethe in the Campagna

January 7 – Patrick Nasmyth, Scottish landscape painter (died 1831)
February 3 – Karl Joseph Brodtmann, Swiss artist, lithographer, printmaker, publisher and bookseller (died 1862)
March 10 – William Etty, English painter, especially of nudes (died 1849)
April 9 – William Finden, English line engraver (died 1852)
August 17 – Maxim Vorobiev, Russian Romantic landscape painter (died 1855)
August 20 – Jean-Pierre Cortot, French sculptor (died 1843)
September 11 – Karl Wilhelm Wach, German painter (died 1845)
September 18 – Johann David Passavant, German painter, curator and artist (died 1861)
October 2 – Nicolas Gosse, French historical painter (died 1878)
October 13 – William Brockedon, English painter (died 1854)
November 18 – Louis Daguerre, French artist and chemist, recognized for his invention of the daguerreotype process of photography (died 1851)
November 22 – Copley Fielding, English watercolour landscape painter (died 1855)
December 16 – François Joseph Heim, French painter (died 1865)
date unknown
- Heinrich Adam, German painter (died 1862)
- Giuseppe Bisi, Italian painter, mainly of landscapes (died 1869)
- Johannes Flintoe, Danish-Norwegian painter of Norwegian landscapes (died 1870)
- Harriet Gouldsmith, English landscape painter and etcher (died 1863)
- François-Joseph Navez, Belgian neo-classical painter (died 1869)
- Xavier Sigalon, French Romantic painter (died 1837)

February 4 – Pompeo Batoni, Italian painter (born 1708)
March 17 – Anton August Beck, German engraver (born 1713)
June 23 – Pierre L'Enfant, French painter (born 1704)
July 25 – Arthur Devis – English portrait painter, particularly known for his conversation pieces and other such small portraits (born 1712)
September 5 – John Brown, Scottish portrait-draftsman and painter at Edinburgh (born 1749)
November 10 – Cristoforo Dall'Acqua, Italian painter and engraver (born 1734)
December 12 – Jean Valade, French painter (born 1710)
date unknown
- Mason Chamberlin, English portrait painter (born 1727)
- John Cheere, English sculptor (born 1709)
- Nicolas Desportes, French painter of hunting scenes (born 1718)
- Erik Westzynthius the Younger, Finnish painter (born 1743)
- Francesco Zugno, Italian Rococo painter (born c. 1708)
probable - Thomas Engleheart, English sculptor and modeller in wax (date of birth unknown)