Editing 1839 in art (section)

==Events==
* [[January 9]] – The [[French Academy of Sciences]] announces the [[Daguerreotype]] [[photography]] process.
* [[January 25]] – [[Henry Fox Talbot|H. Fox Talbot]] shows his "photogenic drawings" at the [[Royal Institution]] in London.
* [[May 6]] – The [[Royal Academy Exhibition of 1839]] opens at the [[National Gallery]] in London
* c. October – [[Robert Cornelius]] takes a [[daguerreotype]] [[:File:RobertCornelius.jpg|self-portrait]], the earliest known existing photographic portrait of a human in America.
* [[Honoré de Balzac]]'s novel ''[[Pierre Grassou]]'' concerns an artist who lives off forgeries.<ref>{{cite book|authorlink=Ruth Yeazell|last=Yeazell|first=Ruth Bernard|year=2008|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ka4Ox67dy_cC&pg=PA88|title=Art of the Everyday: Dutch Painting and the Realist Novel|publisher=Princeton University Press|page=88|isbn=0691127263}}</ref>