1774 in art

Events from the year 1774 in art.

Events

Thomas Gainsborough – Portrait of Sir William Blackstone
Anton Graff – Johann Georg Sulzer
William Hamilton – King Edgar's First Interview with Queen Elfrida
Thomas Jones – The Bard
Angelica Kauffman – Portrait of Lady Georgiana, Lady Henrietta Frances and George John Spencer, Viscount Althorp
Sir Joshua Reynolds – Portrait of Charles Coote, Earl of Bellamont, in robes of the Order of the Bath
Richard Wilson
- Llyn-y-Cau, Cader Idris
- Pembroke Town and Castle

January 5 – George Chinnery, English painter working in Asia (died 1852)
February 17 – Raphaelle Peale, considered the first professional American painter of still-life (died 1825)
April 18 – Antonio Basoli, Italian painter, interior designer, engraver and professor (died 1848)
May 13 – Pierre-Narcisse Guérin, French painter (died 1833)
June 10 – Carl Haller von Hallerstein, German art historian (died 1817)
August 30 – Henri Van Assche, Belgian painter (died 1841)
September 5 – Caspar David Friedrich, German Romantic painter (died 1840)
date unknown
- Giovanni Balestra, Italian engraver (died 1842)
- William Barnard, English mezzotint engraver (died 1849)
- Lisa Erlandsdotter, Swedish artist (died 1854)
- Jean-Pierre Franque, French historical subjects and portraiture painter (died 1860)
- Gai Qi, poet and painter born in the west of China under the Qing dynasty (died 1829)
- William Jennys, American naïve art portrait painter (died 1859)
- Archer James Oliver, British portrait painter (died 1842)
- Johann Georg Primavesi, German etcher and painter, primarily of landscapes (died 1855)
- Richard Sass, English landscape painter, etcher, and drawing master to royalty (died 1849)
- Charles Henry Schwanfelder, English animal, landscape and portrait painter (died 1837)
- Marie-Denise Villers, French painter specializing in portraits (died 1821)

January 1 – Jan Jerzy Plersch, Polish sculptor of German origin (born 1704/1705)
January 13 – Shem Drowne, American coppersmith and tinplate worker (born 1683)
January 28 – Antonio Galli Bibiena, Italian architect, also at Vienna Hofburg (born 1700)
April 11 – Elias Gottlob Haussmann, German painter (born 1695)
April 23 – Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich, German painter (born 1712)
May 17 – Jeremiah Theus, Swiss-born American painter, primarily of portraits (born 1716)
July 9 – Anna Morandi Manzolini, Italian sculptor in wax (born 1714)
August 26 – Philipp Jakob Straub, Austrian sculptor (born 1706)
September 10 – Pierre-Jean Mariette, French art collector (born 1694)
October 27 – Gerolamo Mengozzi Colonna, Italian quadratura painter (born 1688)
December 31 – Johann Christoph Handke, Moravian Baroque painter (born 1694)
date unknown
- Marie-Elisabeth Simons, Belgian painter (born 1754)
- Philippe Caffieri, French sculptor (born 1714)
- Simon François Ravenet, French engraver (born 1706)
probable – Anton Čebej, Slovenian baroque painter (born 1722)