Self-Portrait

Artist

Thomas Ball (American 1819–1911)

Date

1901

Medium

Plaster

Dimensions

11 1/16 x 11 3/16 x 6 13/16 in. (28.1 x 28.4 x 17.3 cm)

Description
Photograph by Jerry L. Thompson for the Boston Athenæum.
Inscription

Inscribed on reverse of base: “AUTO-PORTRAIT / THOMAS BALL / FEB. 1901”

Credit Line

Gift of Susan Jewell (Mrs. George P.) Sanger, 1931

Object Number

UH94

Herbert Skinner

Artist

Thomas Ball (American 1819–1911)

Date

1855

Medium

Marble

Dimensions

15 3/16 x 12 5/8 x 6 15/16 in. (38.6 x 32 x 17.6 cm)

Description

Based on circumstantial evidence, this small bust has long been thought to be a portrait of Herbert Skinner, a son of a wealthy merchant in Boston. The boy had died in 1854 at the age of eight, which means that, if this bust does depict the Skinner child, it is a posthumous image, most likely based on a death mask. The sculptor, Thomas Ball, who had established his reputation in Boston with his portraits of Daniel Webster (the earliest of which is on view nearby) would have taken the model for this bust with him to Italy, where he went in 1854 to work and study. The following year, he sent two marble busts of children, one of a boy and the other of a girl, from Italy to the Boston Athenæum for exhibition. It seems likely that this is one of those busts; stylistically, the somewhat generalized features and the rather vacant stare of the bust would support the theory that it was made after the subject’s death.

Photograph by Jerry L. Thompson for the Boston Athenæum.

Inscription

Inscribed on reverse: “T. BALL, SCULPTOR. / FLORENCE / 1855.”

Credit Line

Deposited by Francis Skinner, brother of the sitter?

Object Number

UH85

La Petite Pensee

Artist

Thomas Ball (American 1819–1911)

Date

n.d.

Medium

Marble bust

Dimensions

19 1/2 in. (49.5 cm)

Description

Thomas Ball first modeled this subject—an idealized bust of a pensive child—in the late 1860s in Florence where he lived and worked for many years. The marble’s termination is adorned with pansies, a traditional symbol of contemplation. The romantic conception, with the kind of obvious reference to premature ennui that was so admired in the Victorian era, proved to be one of Ball’s most popular: he created at least seven replicas of this sculpture between 1868 and 1875. Other examples are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC, among others.

Photograph by Jerry L. Thompson for the Boston Athenæum.

Credit Line

Athenæum purchase, Susan Morse Hilles Fund for Art Acquisition, 2011

Object Number

UH230

Sarah Elizabeth Appleton Lawrence

Artist

Thomas Ball (American 1819–1911)

Date

1863

Medium

Marble

Dimensions

27 5/16 x 20 1/2 x 12 15/16 in. (69.4 x 52 x 32.8 cm)

Description

Bust of middle-aged woman with sockle; classical drapery; head turned slightly to right; slight smile; hair tied back

Inscription

Inscribed on reverse: “SARAH E. LAWRENCE / 1822-1891 / COPY THOS. BALL — 1863”

Credit Line

Gift of Marian (Lawrence) Peabody, granddaughter of the sitter, 1970

Object Number

UH126

George Washington

Artist

Thomas Ball (American 1819–1911)

Date

1858

Medium

Plaster

Dimensions

45 7/8 x 18 x 42 7/16 in. (116.5 x 45.7 x 107.8 cm)

Description
Photograph by Jerry L. Thompson for the Boston Athenæum.
Credit Line

Gift of Margaret H. Jewell and Susan Jewell (Mrs. George P.) Sanger, 1932

Object Number

UH113

Daniel Webster

Artist

Thomas Ball (American 1819–1911)

Date

1852

Medium

Plaster

Dimensions

32 1/16 x 24 5/16 x 15 3/8 in. (81.4 x 61.8 x 39 cm)

Description
Photograph by Jerry L. Thompson for the Boston Athenæum.
Inscription

Inscribed on reverse: “T. BALL. SCULP. / BOSTON 1852. / PATENT.”

Credit Line

Gift of Gershom Bradford, 1954

Object Number

UH111