1808 in art

Events

• May 2 and May 3 - In Spain the guerrilla resistance movement against the French forces of Napoleon Bonaparte begins; immortalized in 1814 by Francisco Goya's Third of May 1808.
• December 20 – The original Covent Garden Theatre in London is destroyed by a fire, along with most of the scenery, costumes and scripts.
• December 22 – Ludwig van Beethoven conducts and performs in concert at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna, with the premiere of his Fifth Symphony, Sixth Symphony, and Fourth Piano Concerto (performed by Beethoven himself).
• John James Audubon marries Lucy Bakewell.
• The Rijksmuseum moves from The Hague to Amsterdam.
• Thomas Phillips is elected to the Royal Academy.
• Publication of Johann Dominicus Fiorillo's Geschichte der zeichnenden Künste.
• Publication of an edition of Robert Blair's poem The Grave with illustrations from designs by William Blake (including A Vision of the Last Judgment).

Goya – Prison Interior. 42.9cm x 31.7cm, Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle

Works

• François Joseph Bosio – Statue of Cupid with a bow (Hermitage Museum)
• Antonio Canova – Venus Victrix (marble reclining nude)
• Francisco Goya – Prison Interior
• Antoine-Jean Gros – Napoleon on the battlefield of Preussisch-Eylau
• Edouard Pingret – Portrait of Napoleon I of France

Births

• February 5 – Carl Spitzweg, painter (died 1885)
• February 26 – Honoré Daumier, painter, sculptor and illustrator (died 1879)
• March 6 – Sofia Adlersparre, painter (died 1862)

Deaths

• February 27 – Hugh Douglas Hamilton, Irish portrait artist (born 1734/1739)
• March 3 – Anton von Maron, Austrian painter active in Rome (born 1733)
• April 15 – Hubert Robert, painter (born 1733)
• April 26 - Jean-Baptiste Pillement, Rococo painter, designer and engraver (born 1728)
• June 6 – Magdalene Bärens, Danish still life and flower painter (born 1737)
• December 4 – Karl Ludwig Fernow, art critic (born 1763)
• date unknown – Fredrika Eleonora von Düben, Swedish textile artist, member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Arts (born 1738)