Events from the year 1785 in art.

Events

• Joseph Wright of Derby holds a one-man exhibition in London, having severed his official connection with the Royal Academy.

Works

• Nicolas Benjamin Delapierre – Portrait of a Seated Gentleman
• Joseph Duplessis – Portrait of Benjamin Franklin (approximate date)
• Thomas Gainsborough
  • Mr and Mrs William Hallett ('The Morning Walk')
  • Portrait of Mrs. Sarah Siddons
• Anton Graff – Self-portrait with his family
• Hugh Douglas Hamilton – Lord Edward Stuart
• Jean-Antoine Houdon – Portrait bust of George Washington
• Adélaïde Labille-Guiard – Self-portrait with two pupils
• Jacques-Antoine-Marie Lemoine – Portrait of Zamor
• Isidro Lorea – Main altarpiece of Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral (carved wood)
• Sir Joshua Reynolds – approximate date
  • Miss Theophila Gwatkin as Simplicity
  • Emma Hart as a Bacchante
• George Romney – At least two portraits of Emma Hart
• Alexander Roslin – Self Portrait while Painting the King of Sweden
• George Stubbs – Haymakers and Reapers (Tate Britain)

Births

• January 8 – Jan Baptiste de Jonghe, Belgian landscape painter (died 1844)
• April 26 – John James Audubon, Haitian-born American naturalist and painter (died 1851)
• September 1 – José Gil de Castro, Afro-Peruvian painter especially of portraits of Peru's heroes (died c. 1841)
• September 26 – Charles Bird King, American portrait artist who notably paints Native American delegates visiting Washington, D.C. (died 1862)
• October 12 – Henry Thomas Alken, English engraver, illustrator and sporting artist (died 1851)
• October 31 – Georg Friedrich Kersting, German painter of Biedermeier-style interior paintings (died 1847)
• November 18 – David Wilkie, Scottish painter and engraver (died 1841)
• December 1 – Abraham Constantin, Swiss enamel painter (died 1851)
• December 23 – Christian Gobrecht, American engraver (died 1844)
• December 30 – Edouard Pingret, French painter and lithographer (died 1869)
• date unknown
  • Pál Balkay, Hungarian painter and teacher (died 1846)
  • Daniel Havell, English engraver (died 1822)
  • Ignatius Josephus van Regemorter, Flemish historical, landscape and genre painter and engraver (died 1873)
• probable – Bernardo Consorti, Italian line-engraver (died unknown)

Deaths

• January 2 – Andrés de la Calleja, Spanish painter (born 1705)
• April 13 – Michel-François Dandré-Bardon, French historical painter and etcher (born 1700)
• May 8 – Pietro Longhi, Venetian painter (born 1701)
• August 20 – Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, French sculptor (born 1714)^[1]
• October 4 – Alexander Runciman, Scottish painter (born 1736)
• October 19 – Hugues Taraval, French painter (born 1729)
• December 14 – Giovanni Battista Cipriani, Italian painter and engraver (born 1727)
• date unknown
  • John Hodges Benwell, English genre painter (born 1764; consumption)^[2]
  • Johannes de Bosch, Dutch painter, engraver and draughtsman (born 1713)
  • William Cochran, Scottish painter (born 1738)^[3]
  • Pietro Gaspari, Italian artist, known for veduta and capriccio in etchings and paintings (born 1720)
  • Jacques Fabien Gautier d'Agoty, French painter and printmaker (born 1716)
  • Jean-Baptiste Le Paon, French battle scene painter (born 1736/38)
  • José Luzán, Spanish Baroque painter (born 1710)
  • Krzysztof Perwanger, Polish sculptor and mayor (born 1700)