1821 in art

Events

• 7 May – The Royal Academy Exhibition of 1821 opens at Somerset House in London with John Constable's The Hay Wain amongst the works on display
• At the age of eleven, Théodore Chassériau is accepted into the studio of Ingres.
• John Martin's paintings Joshua Commanding the Sun to Stand Still upon Gibeon and Belshazzar's Feast are purchased by his former employer William Collins and begin to tour.
• Birmingham Society of Artists established in England.

Works

• Lorenzo Bartolini – The Campbell Sisters Dancing a Waltz
• William Beechey – Victoria, Duchess of Kent with Princess Victoria
• John Cawse – A Soldier Relating His Exploits in a Tavern
• John Constable
• * The Hay Wain
• * Harnham Gate, Salisbury
• * Malvern Hall
• * Trees at Hampstead
• John Crome – Yarmouth Water Frolic
• Francis Danby – Disappointed Love
• Jacques-Louis David – The Sisters Zénaïde and Charlotte Bonaparte
• Charles Deane – Waterloo Bridge and the Lambeth Waterfront from Westminster Stairs
• Charles Lock Eastlake
• * The Erechtheum, Athens
• * A View of Trajan's Forum, Rome
• William Etty – The Triumph of Cleopatra
• Théodore Géricault – The 1821 Derby at Epsom
• John Jackson – William Macready as Henry IV
• George Jones – The Village of Waterloo
• Charles Bird King – Young Omahaw, War Eagle, Little Missouri, and Pawnees
• Charles-Nicolas Lafond – The Duchess of Berry Presenting the Duke of Bordeaux
• Thomas Lawrence
• * Portrait of George IV
• * Portrait of Mikhail Vorontsov
• * Portrait of Sir Humphry Davy
• Bertel Thorvaldsen – Lion Monument, Lucerne
• John Trumbull – Surrender of General Burgoyne
• William Turner – George IV Entering Dublin
• Horace Vernet
• * The Artist's Studio
• * The Battle of Jemappes
• * Napoleon's Tomb
• * Portrait of Marshal Saint-Cyr
• David Wilkie – ''Newsmongers''

Births

• January 27 – August Becker, German landscape painter
• February 10 - Roberto Bompiani, Italian painter
• February 26 – Félix Ziem, French painter
• March 9 – Napoleon Sarony, Canadian American portrait photographer
• April 16 – Ford Madox Brown, English painter
• April 21 – Philip Henry Delamotte, English pioneer photographer
• April 26 – Robert Adamson, Scottish pioneer photographer
• June 18 – Théophile Schuler, French painter and illustrator
• August 4 – Louis Vuitton, French fashion designer
• August 28 – Thomas Seddon, English-born landscape painter
• September 9 – James Smetham, English painter
• October 13 – Évariste Vital Luminais, French historical painter
• November 23 – Charles Meryon, French etcher
• Robert S. Duncanson, African American landscape painter date unknown – Mario Raggi, Italian sculptor

Deaths

• February 12 – Albertus Jonas Brandt, Dutch still-life painter
• February 24 – Marie-Anne Collot, French sculptor
• March 9 – Nicholas Pocock, English marine painter
• April 18 – Thomas Baxter, English porcelain painter
• April 22 – John Crome, English artist in the Romantic era
• May 27 – Charles Alfred Stothard, English historical draughtsman
• July 4 – Richard Cosway, English portrait painter
• August 19 – Marie-Denise Villers, French painter specializing in portraits
• August 21 – Adam Bartsch, Austrian scholar, artist, and printmaker in engraving and etching
• September 10 – Johann Dominicus Fiorillo, German painter and art historian date unknown
• * Gaetano Stefano Bartolozzi, Italian engraver, art dealer, and merchant
• * Yi In-mun, Korean court painter of the late Joseon Dynasty, primarily of landscapes
• probable – Luigi Agricola, Italian painter and jeweller