1666 in art

Events

• June 1–4 – Four Days' Battle, a naval battle of the Second Anglo-Dutch War at which Willem van de Velde the Elder is present and makes sketches.
• A stay of three to five years at the Palazzo Mancini in Rome, at the expense of the King of France, is added to the Prix de Rome award.

Works

• John Hayls – Portrait of Samuel Pepys
• Sir Peter Lely
• *Barbara Palmer, Duchess of Cleveland, as St. Catherine of Alexandria
• *Flagmen of Lowestoft, portraits of English admirals
• Vermeer – ''The Art of Painting''

Births

• April 12 – Pierre Le Gros the Younger, French sculptor, active almost exclusively in Baroque Rome
• April 17 – Johann Michael Feuchtmayer the Elder, German painter and copper engraver
• August 12 – Antonio Balestra, Italian Rococo painter
• September 4 – Anna Maria Ehrenstrahl, Swedish Baroque painter of allegories, portraits and group portraits
• November 17 – Benedetto Luti, Italian painter of pastel portraits
• November 28 – Magnus Berg, Norwegian painter, woodcarver, sculptor and non-fiction writer
• date unknown
• *Ferdinando del Cairo, Italian painter
• *Giovanna Fratellini, Italian painter of small miniature portraits
• *Giovanni Felice Ramelli, Italian painter of portrait miniatures and abbot

Deaths

• February 24 – Nicholas Lanier, English composer, singer, lutenist, painter and art collector
• May 13 – Pier Francesco Mola, Italian painter of frescoes
• June 29 – Mateo Cerezo, Spanish painter
• August 26 – Frans Hals, Dutch painter
• October – Jan Albertsz Rotius, Dutch portrait painter
• December 8 – Dancker Danckerts, Dutch engraver and publisher
• December 9 – Guercino, Italian Baroque painter
• date unknown
• *Domenico Bruni, Italian painter, mainly active in Brescia
• *Giovanni Angelo Canini, Italian painter and engraver
• *Philip Fruytiers, Flemish painter
• *Sebastian Furck, German engraver
• 1666 or 1667 – Peter Snayers, Flemish battlefield painter