1803 in art

Works

• James Barry – Self-portrait as Timanthes
• Louis-Léopold Boilly
  • The Arrival of the Diligence (stagecoach) in the Courtyard of the Messageries
  • Jean-Antoine Houdon modeling the bust of Laplace in his atelier (c.1803-04)
• John Sell Cotman – watercolours
  • Bedlam Furnace Near Irongate [sic.], Shropshire
  • Ruins of Rievaulx Abbey
• Philip James de Loutherbourg – An Avalanche in the Alps
• Henry Fuseli – The Blind Polyphemus, at the Entrance to His Cave, Strokes the Ram under which Odysseus Lies Concealed
• François Gérard – Portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul
• Thomas Douglas Guest – Portrait of Joseph Wilton
• Christian Horneman – Portrait miniature of Ludwig van Beethoven
• Utamaro – Sakizoroi shintaku no kachan ("Array of blooms in the flower beds at the new quarters") (print series; approximate date)

Awards

The Prix de Rome is expanded in 1803 to include musical composition as a category.

• Grand Prix de Rome, painting:
• Grand Prix de Rome, sculpture:
• Grand Prix de Rome, architecture:
• Grand Prix de Rome, music: Albert Androt.

Births

• March 3 – Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps, painter (died 1860)
• May 19 – Martinus Rørbye, Danish genre painter (died 1848)
• June 13 – Treffle Berthlaume, sculptor (died 1884)
• July 24 – Alexander Jackson Davis, architect, illustrator (died 1892)
• August 23 – Egide Charles Gustave Wappers, painter (died 1874)
• September 13 – Jean Ignace Isidore Gérard ("J J Grandville"), caricaturist (died 1847)
• September 28 – Adrian Ludwig Richter, German painter and etcher (died 1884)
• November 25 – Sofia Ahlbom, Swedish drawing artist, engraver and lithographer (died 1868)
• date unknown
  • Francis Grant, painter (died 1878)
  • Paul Huet, painter (died 1869)

Deaths

• January 8 – Domenico Cunego, Italian printmaker (born 1725)
• January 22 – Giuseppe Baldrighi, Italian painter (born 1722)
• April 24 – Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, historical and portrait painter (born 1749)
• April 29 – Thomas Jones, Welsh artist of water colours and sketches (born 1742)
• June 14 – José Camarón y Bononat, Spanish painter, mainly active in Valencia (born 1731)
• July 8 – Francesco Giuseppe Casanova, Italian painter and a younger brother of Giacomo Casanova (born 1727)
• date unknown
  • John Bogle, Scottish miniature painter (born 1746)
  • Giuseppe Camerata, Italian miniature painter and engraver (born 1718)
  • Luigi Mayer, Italian-German painter (born 1755)
  • Vasily Rodchev, Russian history painter (born 1768)
  • William Verstille, American portrait artist (born 1757)
  • Giovanni Volpato, Italian engraver, excavator, dealer in antiquities and manufacturer of biscuit porcelain figurines (born 1735)
  • Joseph Wilton, sculptor (born 1722)
  • Xi Gang, Chinese calligrapher and painter of the Qing Dynasty (born 1746)