1772 in art

Events

• April 24 – The Royal Academy Exhibition of 1772 opens at Somerset House in London
• May 13 – The rival Society of Artists of Great Britain holds its own Exhibition of 1772 in the Strand in London
• July 13 – Captain James Cook leaves Plymouth in HMS Resolution on his second voyage of exploration with landscape painter William Hodges onboard.
• King George III of the United Kingdom appoints Benjamin West official painter to the court.

Works

• John Singleton Copley – Samuel Adams
• Thomas Gainsborough
• *The Linley Sisters
• * Portrait of Thomas Linley the Younger
• *Portrait of Sir William Pulteney
• Thomas Jones – Pencerrig
• Tilly Kettle – Dancing Girls
• Anton Raphael Mengs – The Triumph of History over Time
• Fyodor Rokotov – Portrait of Alexandra Struyskaya
• Alexander Roslin
• *King Christian VII of Denmark
• *King Gustav III of Sweden
• George Stubbs
• *The Kongouro from New Holland
• *Portrait of a Large Dog
• Claude Joseph Vernet – The Shipwreck
• Benjamin West
• * The Death of Chevalier Bayard
• * Portrait of Joseph Banks
• Joseph Wright of Derby
• * An Iron Forge
• * Miravan Breaking Open the Tomb of his Ancestors
• * Self-Portrait
• Johann Zoffany
• *The Academicians of the Royal Academy
• *''Queen Charlotte with her children and brothers''

Awards

• John Flaxman is unsuccessful in the competition for the gold medal of the Royal Academy.

Births

• February 8 – Louis-Marie Autissier, French-born Belgian portrait miniature painter
• February 26 – Gerhard von Kügelgen, German painter of portraits and history paintings
• May 11 – Adélaïde Victoire Hall, French painter
• August 11 – Eduard Joseph d'Alton, German engraver and naturalist
• September 19 – Vicente López y Portaña, Spanish portrait painter
• date unknown
• *Edward Bird, painter
• *Alexander Day, English miniature painter and art dealer
• *François Louis Thomas Francia, landscape painter
• *William Hamlin, American engraver and the first engraver for the state of Rhode Island
• *Joaquín Bernardo Rubert, Spanish still life floral painter
• *Wendela Gustafva Sparre, Swedish textile artist and member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Art
• *Pavel Đurković, Serbian painter and muralist.

Deaths

• June 1 – Marcellus Laroon the Younger, English painter and draughtsman
• June 4 – Johann Michael Feuchtmayer, stucco sculptor and plasterer
• August 31 – Marie-Suzanne Giroust, French painter
• October 12 – Samuel Scott, English marine and topographical painter and etcher
• October 20 – William Taverner, English judge and landscape painter
• November 11 – Jan Maurits Quinkhard, Dutch painter and print designer
• November 19 – Charles Norbert Roettiers, French engraver
• date unknown
• *Benoît Audran the Younger, French engraver
• *Giovanni Angelo Borroni, Italian painter of the late-Baroque and early-Neoclassic periods
• *Robert Gillow, furniture designer
• *José Romeo, Spanish painter
• *Huang Shen, Chinese painter
• *Johanne Seizberg, German-Danish illustrator and teacher
• *Alejandro González Velázquez, Spanish late-Baroque architect and painter
• *Zou Yigui, Chinese painter in Qing Dynasty