1731 in art

• János Krucsay donates the Krucsay Altar to the Franciscan Church in Nyírbátor • Charles-Joseph Natoire receives his first commission from Philibert Orry. ==Works==

, ''Moll's Wake (Plate 6 of the Harlot's Progress'' engravings) • Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin – The White Tablecloth • William Hogarth – ''A Harlot's Progress'' (paintings - lost in fire, 1755) • Giovanni Paolo Panini – ''Interior of Saint Peter's'' • Francesco Maria Schiaffino – Crucifix with Angels • Andreas Silbermann – organ of the Saint-Maurice Church in Ebersmunster • Willem Van der Hagen – State Ball in Dublin Castle • Richard Waitt – The Cromartie Fool ==Births==

• January 1 – Étienne-Pierre-Adrien Gois, French sculptor (died 1823) • February 10 – Thomas Beckwith, English painter, genealogist and antiquary (died 1786) • February 16 – Marcello Bacciarelli, Italian painter (died 1818) • May 18 – José Camarón Bonanat, Spanish painter, mainly active in Valencia (died 1803) • June 19 – Joaquim Machado de Castro, Portuguese sculptor (died 1822) • June 20 – Pierre Julien, French sculptor (died 1804) • July 1 – Johannes Wiedewelt, Danish neoclassical sculptor (died 1802) • date unknown • Dirk van der Aa, Dutch painter (died 1809) • Pierre-Philippe Choffard, French draughtsman and engraver (died 1809) • Per Floding, Swedish designer and engraver (died 1791) • John Inigo Richards, English landscape painter (died 1810) • Paul Sandby, map-maker turned landscape painter in watercolours (died 1809) • Margareta Christina Giers, Swedish painter (died 1765) ==Deaths==

• February 27 – Francis Bird, English sculptor (born 1667) • March 6 – Johann Melchior Dinglinger, one of Europe's greatest goldsmiths, German artist in a Mannerist tradition into the "Age of Rococo" (born 1664) • March 8 – Ferdinand Brokoff, Bohemian sculptor (born 1688) • April 18 - Giovanna Fratellini, Italian painter of small miniature portraits (born 1666) • June 6 – Giovanni Odazzi, Italian painter and etcher (born 1663) • June 7 – William Aikman, Scottish-born portrait painter (born 1682) • June 20 - Ned Ward, English writer and publican (born 1667) • date unknown • Christopher Elias Heiss, German painter and printmaker (born 1660) • Yedikuleli Seyyid 'Abdullah Efendi, Ottoman calligrapher (born unknown) • Giovanni Camillo Sagrestani, Italian painter of the Baroque era in Florence (born 1660) • probable – Bartolomeo Letterini, Italian painter from Venice (born 1669)