- Percival Ball
Percival Ball (
17 February 1845 –4 April 1900 ) was an English sculptor active inAustralia .Ball was born in
Westminster ,London , the son of Edward Henry Ball, carver, and his wife Louisa, née Percival. He later studied at theRoyal Academy of Arts schools in England winning several gold medals and prizes. Between 1865 and 1882 he exhibited 24 works at Royal Academy exhibitions. Around 1870 Ball travelled toParis and then toMunich andRome , where he lived for approximately eight years. Hismarble sculptures received high praise.Ball came to
Sydney , Australia in 1884, seeking a warmer climate to relieve hisasthma andbronchitis . After six months there he moved toMelbourne , occupying a studio atGrosvenor chambers from 1889 and completed the statue of SirRedmond Barry which now stands in front of the public library inMelbourne , as a consequence of the original sculptor,James Gilbert , having died after modelling the statue in clay. Ball was then given other commissions, including the statue of Sir William Wallace atBallarat ;Francis Ormond at Melbourne, and some portrait busts, now in the national gallery at Melbourne. In 1886 he was commissioned to sculpt a marble bust of Bishop James Moorhouse, now at the La Trobe Library. In 1898 he was commissioned by the trustees of the national gallery atSydney to design a panel for thefacade of the building. He completed his relief panel "Phryne before Praxiteles" and then travelled to England to supervise the casting. His architectural sculpture is also on theVictoria and Albert Museum .He died of heart failure due to asthma and bronchitis in England on
4 April 1900 .References
*Dictionary of Australian Biography|First=Percival|Last=Ball|Link=http://gutenberg.net.au/dictbiog/0-dict-biogBa.html#ball1
*Ken Scarlett, ' [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A070162b.htm Ball, Percival (1845-1900)] ', "Australian Dictionary of Biography ", Vol.7, MUP, 1979, pp 160-161.External links
* [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp06642&role=art Bust of Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards by Percival Ball] at the National Portrait Gallery, accessed
2008-02-01
* [http://www.artnet.com/artist/687295/percival-ball.html Works by Percival Ball] at ArtNet.com, accessed2008-02-01
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