Events from the year 1831 in art. Events June 21 – The North Carolina State House is razed in a blaze and therein the roof collapses on Antonio Canova's 1820 statue of George Washington, smashing it to pieces. October 29–31 – The 1831 Bristol riots in England are observed by local artist William James Müller who paints a series of sketches of the city in flames. December – Clarkson Stanfield's spectacular panorama Venice and Its Adjacent Islands is staged in London as part of the annual Christmas pantomime. date unknown John Constable, in charge of hanging the Royal Academy of Arts' annual exhibition in London, at the last minute gives his own Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows a prominent position in place of J. M. W. Turner's Caligula's Palace and Bridge. Publication of John Martin's mezzotint illustrations to The Bible begins. The New Society of Painters in Water Colours is established in London. Works Sir William Beechey – Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen Karl Blechen – Tivoli Gardens at the Villa d'Este Léon Cogniet – Jean-François Champollion John Constable – Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows Eugène Delacroix – A Young Tiger Playing with its Mother Paul Delaroche – King Edward V and the Duke of York in the Tower of London Caspar David Friedrich - The Great Enclosure Joseph von Führich – Triumph of Christ (Raczyński Palace, Berlin) Hiroshige – Famous Places in the Eastern Capital Edwin Landseer – A Distinguished Member of the Humane Society Ivan Martos – Alexander I Statue in Taganrog James Northcote - Chess Players Richard Westmacott – "The Copper Horse" (equestrian statue of George III of the United Kingdom, Windsor Great Park) Births February 23 – Hendrik Willem Mesdag, Dutch marine painter (died 1915) March 12 – Benjamin Williams Leader (born Benjamin Leader Williams), English landscape painter (died 1923) July 3 – Jacques Émile Édouard Brandon, French artist (died 1897) July 21 – Martha Maxwell, American naturalist and artist (died 1881) July 28 – J. L. K. van Dort, Ceylonese illustrator (died 1898) August 14 – Adolf von Becker, Finnish-born painter (died 1909) October 26 – Nathaniel Hone the Younger, Irish painter (died 1917) December 7 – Joanna Mary Boyce, English painter (died 1861) Deaths January 6 – Ryōkan, Japanese Sōtō Zen Buddhist monk poet and calligrapher (born 1758) February 2 – Vincenzo Dimech, Maltese sculptor (born 1768) February 17 – William Armfield Hobday, English portrait