- May 8 Pietro Longhi, Venetian painter, dies at 83
- May 8 Étienne François, duc de Choiseul, French statesman, dies at 65
- May 9 Franz Xaver Schnitzer, German composer, dies at 44
- May 10 Etienne Joseph Floquet, French opera composer, dies at 36
- May 15 Karel Blazej Kopriva, Czech organist and composer, dies at 29
- May 23 William Woollett, engraver, dies