1786 in art

Events from the year 1786 in art.

• November – Boydell Shakespeare Gallery inaugurated in London.
• Francisco Goya is appointed court painter to King Charles III of Spain.

• Mather Brown
  • Portrait of Charles Bulfinch
  • Portrait of Thomas Jefferson
• Thomas Gainsborough – Lavinia (The Milk Maid)
• Anne-Louis Girodet – Coriolanus Taking Leave of His Family
• Ozias Humphry – Portrait of Hyder Beg Khan
• Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun
  • Mademoiselle Sophie
  • Self-portrait in a Turban with Julie
• Jean-Laurent Mosnier – Self-portrait
• Nagasawa Rosetsu
  • Tiger Fusuma
  • Dragon Fusuma
• Joshua Reynolds
  • Admiral Sir Edward Hughes
  • Dr. John Hunter seated in his museum
• John Trumbull
  • The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker's Hill, June 17, 1775
  • The Death of General Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec, December 31, 1775
• Benjamin West – Alexander III of Scotland Rescued from the Fury of a Stag
• Francis Wheatley – The Sailor's Return
• Johann Zoffany – Colonel Antoine Polier, Claud Martin and John Wombwell with the Artist

• January 26 – Benjamin Haydon, English historical painter and writer (suicide 1846)
• April 1 – William Mulready, Irish genre painter of rural scenes (died 1863)
• April 16 – Albrecht Adam, painter (died 1862)
• June 3 – Kim Jeong-hui, calligrapher, epigraphist, and scholar of Korea's later Joseon period (died 1856)
• July 5 – Charles Alfred Stothard, historical draughtsman (died 1821)
• July 9 – Rudolph Schadow, German sculptor (died 1822)
• August 8 – Bengt Erland Fogelberg, Swedish sculptor (died 1854)
• August 28 – Ferdinand Piloty, lithographer (died 1844)
• September 28 – Johann Michael Sattler, Austrian portrait and landscape painter (died 1847)
• October 10 – François-Édouard Picot, French historic painter (died 1868)
• November 23 – František Tkadlík, Czech painter (died 1840)
• date unknown
  • Jean Alaux, French history painter and Director of the French Academy in Rome (died 1864)
  • Julien-Honoré-Germain d'Aubuisson, French portrait and miniature painter (died 1860)
  • Georgije Bakalović, Serbian painter (died 1843)
  • Eugénie Honorée Marguerite Charen, French painter (died 1824)
  • Jean Augustin Daiwaille, Dutch portrait painter (died 1850)
  • William Derby, English miniature painter and copyist (died 1847)
  • John Fischer, German portrait, miniature, and landscape painter (died 1875)
  • James Frothingham, American painter (died 1864)
  • Kunisada, Japanese designer of ukiyo-e woodblock prints (died 1865)
  • Abraham Wivell, British portrait painter, writer and pioneer of fire protection (died 1849)
• probable
  • John Hayes, British portrait-painter (died 1866)

• January 8 – Johan Edvard Mandelberg, Swedish-born painter (born 1730)
• January 12 – Claude-Henri Watelet, French fermier-général, amateur painter and writer on the arts (born 1718)
• February 6 – Samuel Wale, English historical painter and book illustrator (born unknown)
• February 17 – Thomas Beckwith, English painter, genealogist and antiquary (born 1731)
• March 6 – Charles Germain de Saint Aubin, draftsman and embroidery designer to King Louis XV of France (born 1721)
• March 18 – Jacob Bonneau, Anglo-French painter (date of birth unknown)
• April 12 – Francesco Saverio Mergalo, Italian portrait painter (born 1746)
• April 23 – Alexander Cozens, British landscape-painter in water-colours and teacher of painting (born 1717)
• May 4 – Johann Kaspar Füssli, Swiss painter (born 1743)
• June 21 – George Hepplewhite, English furniture designer (born 1727?)
• July 14 – John Collier, English caricaturist and satirist (born 1708)
• October 17 – Johann Ludwig Aberli, Swiss landscape painter and etcher (born 1723)
• October 30 – William Duesbury, British enameller and entrepreneur (born 1725)
• date unknown
  • Andrea-Salvatore Aglio, Italian sculptor and painter on marble (born 1736)
  • Johann Karl Auerbach, Austrian painter (born 1723)
  • Tilly Kettle, portrait painter (born 1735)