1840 in art

Events

*Nelson's column is erected in Trafalgar Square, London.

Works

*Eugène Delacroix - "Entry of the Crusaders into Constantinople" (Louvre, Paris)
*Edwin Landseer - "Laying Down The Law", or "Trial by Jury" (Chatsworth House, Derbyshire)
*Joseph Mallord William Turner - "The Slave Ship" or "Slavers throwing overboard the Dead and Dying — Typhoon coming on" (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
*Thomas Cole - "The Voyage of Life" (National Gallery, Washington; Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, Utica, New York)

Awards

* Grand Prix de Rome, painting:
* Grand Prix de Rome, sculpture:
* Grand Prix de Rome, architecture: Théodore Ballu.
* Grand Prix de Rome, music: F.E.V. Bazin.

Births

*April 22 - Odilon Redon, painter and graphic artist (d. 1916)
*May 28 - Hans Makart, painter and designer (d. 1884)
*August 14 - Briton Rivière, painter (d. 1920)
*September 27 - Thomas Nast, cartoonist (d. 1902)
*November 12 - Auguste Rodin, sculptor (d. 1917)
*November 14 - Claude Monet, Impressionist painter (d. 1926)
* Timothy H. O'Sullivan, photographer of the American Civil War (d. 1882)

Deaths

*March 19 - Thomas Daniell, landscape painter (b. 1749)
*March 30 - Beau Brummell, leader of fashion (b. 1778)
*April 10 - Alexander Nasmyth, painter (b. 1758)
*May 7 - Caspar David Friedrich, painter (b. 1774)
*June 20 - Pierre-Joseph Redouté, flower painter (b. 1759)
* Carl Blechen - German painter, specializing in fantastic landscapes with demons and grotesque figures (b. 1798)
* Reverend John Thomson - minister of Duddingston Kirk near Edinburgh, Scotland and landscape painter (b. 1778)