Percival Ball
Born 17 February 1845 (Circa)
Died 4 April 1900
Active: 1863 - 1900
Country of birth: England
Country of death: Australia
Sculptor, teacher
Born in Westminster, London. Percival was the son of Edward Henry Ball, a carver. He trained at the Lambeth School of Art and the Royal Academy Schools (from 1863). He became a pupil-teacher in modelling at Lambeth in 1863 on the recommendation of John Sparkes. About 1870 he went to Paris and then to Munich and Rome, where he lived for some eight years.
In 1884 Ball moved to Australia for health reasons (he had asthma and bronchitis). He completed a number of commissions after settling in Melbourne. He exhibited with the Society of Artists in Sydney and was a member of the Australian Artists' Association (1886) and the Victorian Artists' Society. He died of heart failure on 1900 leaving a relief panel 'Phryne before Praxiteles' for the outside wall of the Art Gallery of New South Wales incomplete.
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1865 - 1882
Exhibited 13 times, an average of 2 works per year, a total of 24 works.
Institutional and Business Connections
Employed at Doulton and Co. Limited
1865 (Circa)
In 1865 comissioned by Henry Doulton to design a series of oversized heads, sculpted in terracotta for the Doulton Factory [see Wilkinson, 'Ceramic Artists' (2007), p. 17].
Studied at Royal Academy Schools
1865
Awarded the gold medal and a scholarship of £25 for two years, for the best historical group in sculpture in 1865. In the same year, Ball was also awarded a 'second silver medal' for a model from life. See Royal Academy 'Annual Report' (1867), p. 16.
Teacher at South London Technical School of Art (also Lambeth School of Art and City and Guilds of London Art School)
1863
He was a pupil-teacher appointed at the request of John Sparkes
Unsuccessful in ballot for election to Royal Academy of Arts
Personal and Professional Connections
Nominated by John R. Herbert
1 May 1882
For RA; unsuccessful.
Seconded by Walter William Ouless
1 May 1882
Unsuccessful.
Sources
A Dictionary of Ceramic Artists
2007
p. 17.
Australian Dictionary of Biography Online
2006
Print Publication Details: Ken Scarlett, 'Ball, Percival (1845 - 1900)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 7, Melbourne University Press, 1979, pp 160-161. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A070162b.htm?hilite=ball (accessed 7 July 2010)
Royal Academy of Arts Nominations for Associateship, 1866-1906
1906
See entries for 1882.
The New Sculpture
1983
p. 18
Citing this record
'Percival Ball', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib2_1213974517, accessed 28 Jan 2023]
