Thomas Ball (June 3, 1819 – December 11, 1911) was an American sculptor and musician. His work has had a marked influence on
monumental art
Monumental may refer to:
* In the manner of a monument
Places
* Monumental Island, Nunavut, Canada
* Monumental Island, New Zealand
* Monumental (Barcelona Metro), a station in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
* La Monumental, the Plaza Monumental de ...
in the United States, especially in
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
.
Life
He was born in
Charlestown, Massachusetts, to Thomas Ball, a house and sign painter and Elizabeth Wyer Hall. His father died when he was twelve. After several odd jobs to help support his family he spent three years working at the New England Museum, the precursor to the
Boston Museum. There he entertained the visitors by drawing
portrait
A portrait is a portrait painting, painting, portrait photography, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, Personality type ...
s, playing the violin, and singing, and repaired mechanical toys. He then became an apprentice for the museum
wood-carver Abel Brown. He taught himself
oil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...
by copying
prints
In molecular biology, the PRINTS database is a collection of so-called "fingerprints": it provides both a detailed annotation resource for protein families, and a diagnostic tool for newly determined sequences. A fingerprint is a group of conserve ...
and casts in the studio of the museum superintendent.
Sculptor
His earliest work was a bust of
Jenny Lind, whom he saw on her 1850 tour of the United States. Copies of his Lind work and his bust of Daniel Webster sold widely before being widely copied by others.
His work includes many early cabinet busts of musicians. His first statue of a figure was a two-foot high statue of Daniel Webster, on which he worked from photographs and engravings until he managed to see him pass his studio shortly before his death.
Musician
Ball was an accomplished musician and from his teenage years working as a paid singer in Boston churches. He performed as an unpaid soloist with the
Handel and Haydn Society
The Handel and Haydn Society is an American chorus and period instrument orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. Known colloquially as 'H+H', the organization has been in continual performance since its founding in 1815, the longest-serving suc ...
beginning in 1846 and with that organization sang the title role in the first United States performance of Mendelssohn's ''
Elijah
Elijah ( ; he, אֵלִיָּהוּ, ʾĒlīyyāhū, meaning "My God is Yahweh/YHWH"; Greek form: Elias, ''Elías''; syr, ܐܸܠܝܼܵܐ, ''Elyāe''; Arabic: إلياس or إليا, ''Ilyās'' or ''Ilyā''. ) was, according to the Books of ...
'',
[H. Earle Johnson, ''Hallelujah, Amen!: The Story of the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston'' (Boston: Bruce Humphries, 1965), 64–6] and the baritone solos in Rossini's ''Moses in Egypt''. On a visit to Boston years later he performed the baritone role in Boston's first performance of
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
's
Ninth Symphony with the
Germania Orchestra on April 2, 1853.
Painter
As commissions started to come in he moved from studio to studio until he settled in a studio in
Tremont Row where he remained for twelve years. There he painted several religious pictures and a portrait of
Cornelia Wells (Walter) Richards, editor of the ''
Boston Evening Transcript
The ''Boston Evening Transcript'' was a daily afternoon newspaper in Boston, Massachusetts, published from July 24, 1830, to April 30, 1941.
Beginnings
''The Transcript'' was founded in 1830 by Henry Dutton and James Wentworth of the firm of D ...
''. He then turned his attention to sculpture.
At thirty-five he went to
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
for study. Except for an interval of work in
Boston, Massachusetts, in 1857–1865, he remained there until 1897 as a member of an artistic colony that included
Robert
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
and
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (née Moulton-Barrett; 6 March 1806 – 29 June 1861) was an English poet of the Victorian era, popular in Britain and the United States during her lifetime.
Born in County Durham, the eldest of 12 children, Elizabet ...
and
Hiram Powers
Hiram Powers (July 29, 1805 – June 27, 1873) was an American neoclassical sculptor. He was one of the first 19th-century American artists to gain an international reputation, largely based on his famous marble sculpture ''The Greek Slave''.
...
. The notables he met in Europe included
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...
, whom he met at the Vatican in 1865 and of whom he produced a portrait bust.
He made it a practice never to attend the unveiling of any of his public works. Once in Boston, he managed to avoid receiving the invitation to the ceremonial dedication of his statue of Gov. Andrew and instead went to see the work later, viewing it from different approaches. He later wrote: "It was a mean thing to do. I am ashamed of it now, but I could not bring myself to stand on that platform and face the multitude."
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...
awarded him an honorary degree of Master of Arts.
[Ball, ''Threescore'', 216]
When he returned to America he lived in
Montclair, New Jersey, while keeping a studio in New York City.
In 1880, Ball published an autobiographical volume, ''My Threescore Years'', which he updated in 1890 as ''My Three Score Years and Ten''.
Ball died at the Montclair home of his daughter, Eliza Chickering Ball, and son-in-law, sculptor
William Couper.
Selected works
*''Bust of
Jenny Lind'' (plaster, 1851),
New York Historical Society
The New-York Historical Society is an American history museum and library in New York City, along Central Park West between 76th and 77th Streets, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The society was founded in 1804 as New York's first museum. ...
, New York City.
*''Bust of Daniel Webster'' (bronze),
Hood Museum of Art
The Hood Museum of Art is owned and operated by Dartmouth College, located in Hanover, New Hampshire, in the United States. The first reference to the development of an art collection at Dartmouth dates to 1772, making the collection among the o ...
,
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...
, Hanover, New Hampshire.
*''Statuette of
Daniel Webster
Daniel Webster (January 18, 1782 – October 24, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the U.S. Congress and served as the U.S. Secretary of State under Presidents William Henry Harrison, ...
'' (bronze, 1853).
*Four bas-relief panels (bronze, 1856), on base of
Richard Saltonstall Greenough
Richard Saltonstall Greenough (April 19, 1819 – 1904) was an American sculptor and younger brother to Neoclassical sculptor Horatio Greenough.
Greenough was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the youngest child of Elizabeth (Bender) and David Gre ...
's ''
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...
'' statue,
Old City Hall, Boston, Massachusetts.
*''Statuette of
Henry Clay
Henry Clay Sr. (April 12, 1777June 29, 1852) was an American attorney and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. He was the seventh House speaker as well as the ninth secretary of state, al ...
'' (bronze, 1858),
U.S. Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
Art Collection,
U.S. Capitol
The United States Capitol, often called The Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the Seat of government, seat of the Legislature, legislative branch of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is form ...
, Washington, D.C.
*''
Daniel Webster
Daniel Webster (January 18, 1782 – October 24, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the U.S. Congress and served as the U.S. Secretary of State under Presidents William Henry Harrison, ...
'' (bronze, 1860–1868),
Central Park
Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West Side, Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the List of New York City parks, fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban par ...
, New York City.
*
''Equestrian Statue of George Washington'' (bronze, 1864),
Boston Public Garden
The Public Garden, also known as Boston Public Garden, is a large park in the Downtown Boston, heart of Boston, Massachusetts, adjacent to Boston Common. It is a part of the Emerald Necklace system of parks, and is bounded by Charles Street (Bosto ...
, Boston, Massachusetts.
**The model for this statue is held by the
Boston Athenaeum
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- most ...
*''Bust of
Edward Everett
Edward Everett (April 11, 1794 – January 15, 1865) was an American politician, Unitarian pastor, educator, diplomat, and orator from Massachusetts. Everett, as a Whig, served as U.S. representative, U.S. senator, the 15th governor of Massa ...
'' (marble, 1867),
Boston Public Library
The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also the Library for the Commonwealth (formerly ''library of last recourse'') of the Commonweal ...
, Boston, Massachusetts.
*''
Edwin Forrest
Edwin Forrest (March 9, 1806December 12, 1872) was a prominent nineteenth-century American Shakespearean actor. His feud with the British actor William Macready was the cause of the deadly Astor Place Riot of 1849.
Early life
Forrest was born i ...
as "Coriolanus"'' (marble, 1867),
Walnut Street Theater
The Walnut Street Theatre, founded in 1809 at 825 Walnut Street, on the corner of S. 9th Street in the Washington Square West neighborhood of Philadelphia, is the oldest operating theatre in the United States. The venue is operated by the Walnu ...
, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
*''
Josiah Quincy'' (bronze, 1869),
Old City Hall, Boston, Massachusetts.
*''
John Albion Andrew
John Albion Andrew (May 31, 1818 – October 30, 1867) was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts. He was elected in 1860 as the 25th Governor of Massachusetts, serving between 1861 and 1866, and led the state's contributions to ...
'' (marble, 1870), Doric Hall,
Massachusetts State House
The Massachusetts State House, also known as the Massachusetts Statehouse or the New State House, is the List of state capitols in the United States, state capitol and seat of government for the Massachusetts, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, lo ...
, Boston, Massachusetts.
*"The Angel of Death Lifting the Veil from the Eyes of Faith" (''
Jonas Chickering
Jonas Chickering (April 5, 1798 – December 8, 1853) was a piano manufacturer in Boston, Massachusetts.
Jonas Chickering was born in Mason Village, and raised in nearby New Ipswich, New Hampshire where his father Abner Chickering kept a farm a ...
Monument'') (marble, 1872),
Mount Auburn Cemetery
Mount Auburn Cemetery is the first rural cemetery, rural, or garden, cemetery in the United States, located on the line between Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts, Watertown in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middl ...
, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
*''Saint John the Evangelist'' (marble, 1875),
Forest Hills Cemetery
Forest Hills Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery, greenspace, arboretum and sculpture garden located in the Forest Hills section of the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The cemetery was established in 1848 as a public ...
, Boston, Massachusetts. Replaced by a
polymer
A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + ''-mer'', "part")
is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic a ...
replica, 2001.
**Copies of this are in the
Smithsonian American Art Museum
The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...
, Washington, D.C.; the
Chrysler Museum of Art
The Chrysler Museum of Art is an art museum on the border between downtown and the Ghent district of Norfolk, Virginia. The museum was founded in 1933 as the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences. In 1971, automotive heir, Walter P. Chrysler Jr. ...
, Norfolk, Virginia; and the
Montclair Art Museum
The Montclair Art Museum (MAM) is located in Montclair, New Jersey, United States, a few miles west of New York City. Since it opened in 1914 as the first museum in New Jersey that granted access to the public and the first dedicated solely to a ...
, Montclair, New Jersey.
*''
Emancipation Memorial
The Emancipation Memorial, also known as the Freedman's Memorial or the Emancipation Group is a monument in Lincoln Park in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It was sometimes referred to as the "Lincoln Memorial" before the mor ...
'' (bronze, 1875),
Lincoln Park
Lincoln Park is a park along Lake Michigan on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Named after US President Abraham Lincoln, it is the city's largest public park and stretches for seven miles (11 km) from Grand Avenue (500 N), on the south, ...
, Washington, D.C.
**A copy of this was in
Park Square, Boston, Massachusetts.
*''
Charles Sumner
Charles Sumner (January 6, 1811March 11, 1874) was an American statesman and United States Senator from Massachusetts. As an academic lawyer and a powerful orator, Sumner was the leader of the anti-slavery forces in the state and a leader of th ...
'' (bronze, 1878),
Boston Public Garden
The Public Garden, also known as Boston Public Garden, is a large park in the Downtown Boston, heart of Boston, Massachusetts, adjacent to Boston Common. It is a part of the Emerald Necklace system of parks, and is bounded by Charles Street (Bosto ...
, Boston, Massachusetts.
*''Daniel Webster'' (bronze, 1885–86),
New Hampshire State House
The New Hampshire State House, located in Concord at 107 North Main Street, is the state capitol building of New Hampshire. The capitol houses the New Hampshire General Court, Governor, and Executive Council. The building was constructed on a ...
, Concord, New Hampshire. The commission was first given to sculptor
Martin Milmore
__NOTOC__
Martin Milmore (1844–1883) was an American sculptor.
Life and career
Martin Milmore was born in Sligo, Ireland on September 14, 1844. He immigrated to Boston at age seven, graduated from Boston Latin School in 1860, took art lesso ...
, then to his brother. Ball took it over following the deaths of both Milmores. This has a different pose from his earlier Webster statues.
*''
P. T. Barnum
Phineas Taylor Barnum (; July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was an American showman, businessman, and politician, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus (1871–2017) with James Anthony Bailey. He was ...
'' (bronze, 1887), Seaside Park,
Bridgeport, Connecticut
Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the List of cities by population in New England, fifth-most populous ...
.
Washington Monument
*''George Washington Monument'' (1883–1893),
Methuen, Massachusetts
Methuen () is a 23 square mile (60 km2) city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 53,059 at the 2020 census. Methuen lies along the northwestern edge of Essex County, just east of Middlesex County and just south of ...
. This was Ball's most complex and ambitious work, consisting of a 15-foot bronze statue of Washington, 4 larger-than-life seated figures, 4 portrait busts, and 4 eagles flanked by flags, all displayed on a multi-tiered marble base. The monument was created at Ball's studio in Florence, Italy. His son-in-law,
William Couper, assisted in modeling the figures. It was exhibited at the 1893
World Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...
in
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
, before being installed in Methuen, Massachusetts and dedicated on February 22, 1900.
**''George Washington''
**''Cincinnatus'' (seated figure of Washington)
**''Revolution'' (seated figure)
**''Oppression'' (seated figure)
**''Victory'' (seated figure)
**''Bust of the Marquis de LaFayette''
**''Bust of General Henry Knox''
**''Bust of General Nathaniel Greene''
**''Bust of General Benjamin Lincoln''
**Four sets of ''Eagles and Flags''
The monument was sold in 1958, disassembled, and moved to
Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, California.
Gallery
File:Relief, Benjamin Franklin statue, Old City Hall, Boston - IMG 6653.JPG, ''Benjamin Franklin, Printer'' (1856), Old City Hall, Boston, Massachusetts.
File:Edward Everett, by Thomas Ball, Boston Public Library.jpg, ''Edward Everett'' (1867), Boston Public Library
The Boston Public Library is a municipal public library system in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1848. The Boston Public Library is also the Library for the Commonwealth (formerly ''library of last recourse'') of the Commonweal ...
, Boston, Massachusetts.
File:Josiah Quincy by Thomas Ball - Boston, MA - DSC04731.JPG, ''Josiah Quincy'' (1869), Old City Hall, Boston, Massachusetts.
File:Chickering Monument.JPG, ''Jonas Chickering Monument'' (1872), Mount Auburn Cemetery
Mount Auburn Cemetery is the first rural cemetery, rural, or garden, cemetery in the United States, located on the line between Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge and Watertown, Massachusetts, Watertown in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middl ...
, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
File:Thomas Ball - 'Love's Memories', 1873, marble, High Museum.JPG, ''Love's Memories'' (1873), High Museum of Art
The High Museum of Art (colloquially the High) is the largest museum for visual art in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta, Georgia (on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district), the High is 312,000 square feet (28, ...
, Atlanta, Georgia.
File:WLA amart 1875 Saint John.jpg, ''Saint John the Evangelist'' (1875), Smithsonian American Art Museum
The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...
, Washington, D.C.
File:Emancipation Memorial, Washington DC (172659694).jpg, ''Emancipation Memorial
The Emancipation Memorial, also known as the Freedman's Memorial or the Emancipation Group is a monument in Lincoln Park in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It was sometimes referred to as the "Lincoln Memorial" before the mor ...
'' (1875), Lincoln Park
Lincoln Park is a park along Lake Michigan on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Named after US President Abraham Lincoln, it is the city's largest public park and stretches for seven miles (11 km) from Grand Avenue (500 N), on the south, ...
, Washington, D.C.
References
;Attribution
*
Sources
* Taft, ''History of American Sculpture'' (New York, 1903)
* Nash, Edwin G., "Ball, Thomas" in ''Dictionary of American Biography'', vol. 1 (NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1928)
* Thomas Ball, ''My Threescore Years And Ten: An Autobiography'' (Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1891)
* Thomas Ball, '' My Fourscore Years'' (Los Angeles: Trecavalli Press, 1993)
* http://www.wingedsun.com/books/ball.htm
External links
Thomas Ballat Smithsonian Institution Research Information System.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ball, Thomas
1819 births
1911 deaths
Artists from Boston
19th-century American male opera singers
People from Montclair, New Jersey
American expatriates in Italy
Sculptors from New Jersey
American operatic baritones
Musicians from Boston
19th-century American sculptors
19th-century American male artists
American male sculptors
20th-century American sculptors
20th-century American male artists
Sculptors from Massachusetts
Classical musicians from Massachusetts
Artists of the Boston Public Library
Singers from New Jersey
Classical musicians from New Jersey