1717 in art

Events

• April 13 – Thomas Coke purchases a marble statue of Artemis/Diana dated to 190–200 AD, believed to be a copy of a mid 4th century BC Hellenistic original, for 900 crowns, making it the most expensive item he acquired for the art collections of Holkham Hall.

Paintings

• Charles Jervas – Portrait of Isaac Newton
• Jean-Marc Nattier – Portraits of Peter the Great and Catherine I of Russia
• Enoch Seeman – Portrait of Elihu Yale
• Antoine Watteau
• * The Embarkation for Cythera
• * ''Les plaisirs du bal''

Statues

• Equestrian statue of George I in Birmingham by John Nost

Births

• February 14 – Jan Palthe, Dutch portrait painter
• February 17 – Adam Friedrich Oeser, German etcher, painter and sculptor
• April 23 – Pieter Barbiers, Dutch painter
• May 4 - Jean-Charles François, French engraver
• June 20 – Jacques Saly, French sculptor
• August 11 – Giovanni Carlo Galli-Bibiena, Italian architect, designer, and painter
• December 4 – Norbert Grund, Czech painter of the Rococo style date unknown
• * Giuseppe Bottani, Italian painter active in the Baroque period
• * Alexander Cozens, British landscape-painter in water-colours and published teacher of painting
• * Robert Wood, British engraver, gentleman and politician

Deaths

• January 16 – Elias Brenner, Swedish painter and archeologist
• February 18 – Giovanni Maria Morandi, Italian painter of altarpieces
• April 5 – Jean Jouvenet, French painter
• April 8 - Antoine Benoist, French painter and sculptor
• May 7 – Bon Boullogne, French painter
• November 21 – Jean-Baptiste Santerre, French painter date unknown
• * Luigi Quaini, Italian painter of landscapes and architecture
• * Carlo Antonio Rambaldi, Italian painter of the Baroque period
• * Girolamo Ruggieri, Italian painter of landscapes and battle paintings
• * John Slezer, Dutch- or German-born military engineer and artist
• * Wang Hui, Chinese landscape painter, the best known of the Four Wangs