- Dec 6 Giovanni Pacini, Italian opera composer, and educator, dies at 71
- Dec 6 Jean Pierre Flourens, French physiologist, dies at 73
- Dec 7 Rudolf Viole, composer, dies at 42
- Dec 19 Jean-Georges Kastner, French composer, dies at 57
- Dec 22 Jean-Victor Poncelet, French mathematician and engineer who was one of the founders of modern projective geometry, dies at 79
- Dec 22 Théodore Rousseau, French painter, dies at 55