Events from the year 1790 in art.

• April–May – Josiah Wedgwood shows off his first reproductions of the Portland Vase, in jasperware.

• William Blake – The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
• Louis-Léopold Boilly
  • The Sorrows of Love
  • Woman Showing Her Portrait
• Mather Brown – Portrait of Henry Angelo
• Giuseppe Cades – The Virgin Mary and Infant Jesus served by the Angels
• Henri-Pierre Danloux – Le supplice d'une vestale
• Johann Heinrich Fussli – Thor Battering the Midgard Serpent
• Gaetano Gandolfi – Joseph's Dream
• Francisco de Goya – El Afilador and Sagrada Familia
• Angelica Kauffman – Venus überredet Helena Paris zu erhören
• Thomas Lawrence – Homer Reciting his Poems
• Philip James de Loutherbourg – Visitor to a Moonlit Churchyard
• Joshua Reynolds – Portrait of Lord Moira
• Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo – Pulcinella und Saltimbanchi
• John Trumbull – Washington at Verplanck's Point
• (approximate date)
  • Joseph Wright of Derby – Richard Arkwright

• January 1 – George Petrie, Irish painter, musician, antiquary and archaeologist (died 1866)
• January 25 – Moritz Michael Daffinger, Austrian miniature painter and sculptor (died 1849)
• January 30 – Carl Gustaf Löwenhielm, Swedish diplomat who made paintings of the countries in which he served (died 1858)
• February 19 – Anton Schimser, Polish sculptor of Austrian origin (died 1838)
• March – Kapiton Zelentsov, Russian painter notable for his book illustrations (died 1845)
• March 14 – Ludwig Emil Grimm, German painter and engraver (died 1863)
• March 28 – William Henry Hunt, English water-color painter (died 1864)
• May 22 - Bianca Milesi, Italian writer, painter, and patriot (died 1849)
• May 23 - James Pradier, Swiss-born French sculptor in the neoclassical style (died 1852)
• June 19 – John Gibson, Welsh-born sculptor (died 1866)
• July 6 – Giuseppe Tominz, Italian-Slovenian portrait painter (died 1866)
• July 18 – John Frazee, first American born sculptor to execute a bust in marble (died 1852)
• September 24 – Robert Trewick Bone, English painter of sacred, classical and genre scenes (died 1840)
• date unknown
  • Willis Buell, American politician and portrait painter (died 1851)
  • Keisai Eisen, Japanese ukiyo-e artist (died 1848)
  • Henri van der Haert, Belgian portrait painter, sculptor, illustrator and engraver (died 1846)
  • Paweł Maliński, Czech-born sculptor and mason who lived and worked in Poland (died 1853)
  • Edward Villiers Rippingille, English painter (died 1859)
  • Luigi Rossini, Italian artist known for his etchings of ancient Roman architecture (died 1857)

• February 20 – Erik Pauelsen, Danish landscape painter (born 1749)
• March 8 – Augustyn Mirys, Polish painter (born 1700)
• March 28 – François-Elie Vincent, Swiss painter of portrait miniatures (born 1708)
• April 29 – Charles-Nicolas Cochin, French engraver, designer, writer, and art critic (born 1715)
• August – Agostino Carlini, Italian sculptor and painter (born 1718)
• September 24 – John Keyse Sherwin, English engraver and painter (born 1751)
• date unknown:
  • Isoda Koryusai, Japanese printmaker and painter (born 1735)
  • Niccolò Lapiccola, Italian painter (born 1730)