1772 in art

Events from the year 1772 in art.

Events

 * July 13 – Captain James Cook leaves Plymouth in HMS Resolution on his second voyage of exploration with landscape painter William Hodges onboard (in lieu of Johann Zoffany).
 * King George III of the United Kingdom appoints Benjamin West official painter to the court.

Works

 * John Singleton Copley – Samuel Adams (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
 * Thomas Gainsborough
 * The Linley Sisters
 * William Johnstone-Pulteney
 * Thomas Jones – Pencerrig
 * Tilly Kettle – Dancing Girls (Blacks)
 * Anton Raphael Mengs – The Triumph of History over Time (Allegory of the Museum Clementinum; ceiling fresco in the Camera dei Papiri, Vatican Library)
 * 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
 * Joseph Wright of Derby – Miravan Breaking Open the Tomb of his Ancestors
 * 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 (died 1830)
 * February 26 – Gerhard von Kügelgen, German painter of portraits and history paintings (died 1820)
 * May 11 – Adélaïde Victoire Hall, French painter (died 1844)
 * August 11 – Eduard Joseph d'Alton, German engraver and naturalist (died 1840)
 * September 19 – Vicente López y Portaña, Spanish portrait painter (died 1850)
 * date unknown
 * Edward Bird, painter (died 1819)
 * Alexander Day, English miniature painter and art dealer (died 1841)
 * François Louis Thomas Francia, landscape painter (died 1839)
 * William Hamlin, American engraver and the first engraver for the state of Rhode Island (died 1869)
 * Joaquín Bernardo Rubert, Spanish still life floral painter (died 1817)
 * Wendela Gustafva Sparre, Swedish textile artist and member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Art (died 1855)
 * Pavel Đurković, Serbian painter and muralist (died 1830).

Deaths

 * June 1 – Marcellus Laroon the Younger, English painter and draughtsman (born 1679)
 * June 4 – Johann Michael Feuchtmayer, stucco sculptor and plasterer (born 1709)
 * August 31 – Marie-Suzanne Giroust, French painter (born 1734)
 * October 12 – Samuel Scott, English marine and topographical painter and etcher (born 1702)
 * October 20 – William Taverner, English judge and landscape painter (born 1703)
 * November 11 – Jan Maurits Quinkhard, Dutch painter and print designer (born 1688)
 * November 19 – Charles Norbert Roettiers, French engraver (born 1720)
 * date unknown
 * Benoît Audran the Younger, French engraver (born 1698)
 * Giovanni Angelo Borroni, Italian painter of the late-Baroque and early-Neoclassic periods (born 1684)
 * Robert Gillow, furniture designer (born 1704)
 * José Romeo, Spanish painter (born 1701)
 * Huang Shen, Chinese painter (born 1687)
 * Johanne Seizberg, German-Danish illustrator and teacher (born 1732)
 * Alejandro González Velázquez, Spanish late-Baroque architect and painter (born 1719)
 * Zou Yigui, Chinese painter in Qing Dynasty (born 1686)