The biography of Robert Ball Hughes is written across the pages of history in numerous books and articles.  His artwork remains today for us as a testament of his genius. David E. Brown

    Good Old Dorchester by William Dana Orcutt. Cambridge: John Wilson & Son, UP, 1893, pp. 379-389. (This is the best and most insightful glimpse into the life of Ball Hughes and his family)  It's available for viewing and download at Google Books or a paperback reprint is available for purchase from Amazon.com.

Below is an excerpt from Orcutt's book:

"The following biographical sketch, published in 1843, some fourteen years after he took up his residence in this country, gives us an excellent idea of his early life:"

"Ball Hughes the Sculptor. — This gentleman was born in London on the 19th of January, 1806 [sic]. He early evidenced a taste and talent for moulding [sic], and a somewhat whimsical circumstance at length decided him in the choice of his profession.

About the year 1818, his mother observed that the ends of wax candles constantly disappeared from the candlesticks; and indeed that sometimes whole ones were also missing. At length, on making some inquiry, it was found that our young genius Ball was the one who had thus robbed the old gilded candelabra of their wax ornaments.

The next thing to be ascertained was why he did it; and, being pressed by his father to tell the truth and avoid a flogging, he confessed to taking them to enable him to copy in wax a picture which hung in the garret representing the Wisdom of Solomon.1"

The work was brought down, and the spirited bas-relief he

Here we find him successfully competing for all the prizes awarded by the Royal Academy, and obtaining —

1st. —The large silver medal for the best copy in bas-relief of the Apollo Belvidere [sic].

2d. — From the Society of Arts and Sciences a silver medal for (a copy of) the Barbarini Fawn ([sic] (in 1820, Craven).

3d. —A large silver medal for the best original model from the life.

4th.—A gold medal for an original composition of Pandora, brought by Mercury to Epimetheus. Also a series of lectures, by Baron Opie and Fuseli.

These were all obtained before he was of legal age (of 21 in England at the time)." We find him next engaged on busts of the royal family, including the Duke of Sussex, the Duke of Cambridge, and a small statue of George the Fourth, which he ordered to be cast in bronze.

During a professional residence in the beautiful mansion of the late Earl of Leicester, he met several American gentlemen, who so interested him in their descriptions of our great republic as to decide him, shortly after his marriage (1829) [sic], to visit us.

Among a number of works which he has done among us may be mentioned his beautiful marble statue of General Alexander Hamilton, unfortunately destroyed with the Exchange at the great fire in New York; a magnificent marble alto-relief to the memory of Bishop Hobart in Trinity Church; a group of Uncle Toby and Widow Wadman, now in the (Boston) Athenaeum; the inimitable statue of little Oliver Twist, which makes us more than ever in love with sculpture; an admirable equestrian statue of General Washington, originally intended for Philadelphia, but, owing to want of funds, never executed."

    The following account of Ball Hughes in London by John Neal gives us a rare account of Ball Hughes early works and personality.

Hughes the Sculptor by John Neal (1793-1876) from American Phrenological Journal Vol. 49.--No. 8, New York: March 1869, p. 98:

"This eminent artist, generally known here, through a strange misapprehension, as "Ball" Hughes, was a man of great originality and fine genius; but wayward, whimsical, and capricious. When I first knew him, he was modeling small figures of men and animals, and grouping them, as they never had been grouped before, since the days of Benvenuto Cellini, for Rundell and Bridges, the great London goldsmiths. I believe I had some influence in persuading him into modeling from life. He began, if I do not mistake, with a head of Jeremy Bentham, and I stood at his elbow, hour after hour, and day after day, while he was working out a magnificent problem, which he cast aside without finishing, just when it began to be the philosopher himself. Not long after this, he came to this country and brought forth—in plaster—his "Uncle Toby and the Widow," a charming affair, full of archness and truth and old-fashioned humor—but somehow or other, none of these earlier conceptions of his ever appeared in marble, and therefor like Thom's "Tam O'Shanter," in freestone, will be sure to crumble and pass away, before another generation are permitted to see them."

"With a bilious nervous temperament, a fine spirited head, large Ideality, a graceful bearing and a generous loving nature; with remarkable power of adoption, and adaptation, and uncommon talents, Mr. Hughes might have been almost anything he chose, though I have always been sorry that he gave up altogether modeling for the goldsmiths; for in that narrow field of art, he was unmatchable. And here I am reminded of Powers, the sculptor, with whom I had a somewhat similar experience, but of whom I shall speak in my next paper."

The Mystery of "Ball Hughes" Name

The Mystery of Ball Hughes Birthdate 

"My object in visiting [this country] was to see the state of the Arts in this New World and endeavor to put up one or two national monuments to bear witness some future day to my having been here." (June 27,  1831)

Critics & Admirers

“Robert Ball Hughes was an artist of unquestionable genius and a genial and exceedingly social gentleman. The “Dead Christ” in the Roman Catholic Church at South Boston, which burnt a few years since, and the bronze statue of Bowditch at Mount Auburn, have been regarded as among his best works; but his “Uncle Toby,” “Little Nell,” and other productions, have likewise received the commendation their excellence of conception and execution merited. His “poker sketches,” so called, were unique and curious, and full of strength and grace. Some of them were admirable as portraits. His “Fisher Boy” was also “a thing of beauty.” Mr. Hughes was born in London, but had spent a large part of his life in this country, where he made many friends, who found him abounding in anecdote and information, possessed of remarkable taste and skill in his profession. Pure-minded and single-hearted, he was kind, generous and hospitable--an affectionate husband and father. He was a pupil of Flaxman and Bailey [sic], and a member of the Royal Academy [sic]. The Duke of Devonshire showed his appreciation of his talents by becoming the owner of his Oliver Twist.”

“And now flits across the memory a brilliant sculptor, whose familiar face and tall figure were well known in our streets. Ball Hughes was without controversy a genius, as is evidenced by his well-known group of the Widow Wadman and Uncle Toby, and the fine statue of Bowditch,--both I think in the Art Museum. He was cut down in the prime of life, yet not by the hand of death. Many knew him in his later years by poker drawings, which he did for small returns. It was like “a giant cracking nuts.” We have never had in Boston natural powers for art superior to his. In all his obliquities he was a gentleman.”

”But, for all his training, Ball Hughes's significance in American sculpture is historical rather than artistic. ... It is remarkable that a man of Mr. Hughes's facility should have produced so little. Perhaps he realized early that he had no great revelation to make, and resolved to hold his peace. This is not literally true, however, for tradition has not suppressed the fact that in his later years Mr. Hughes was wont to deliver lectures on art, thus making himself honorary founder of the formidable line of “talking sculptors" in this country. Whatever may be the verdict of posterity regarding his work, -- and posterity may not even take the trouble to consider it at all, -- it is certain that the name of Ball Hughes will be remembered. However uninspired, he chanced to be the first to do certain things important in the physical evolution of his art, and no history of American sculpture can omit him.”

“Although he [Ball Hughes] is much better known today for his larger works, he was the finest modeler of wax portraits in the second quarter of the 19^th century anywhere in the country.”... “After the casting of the Bowditch statue, Robert Ball Hughes began to slip into obscurity.”...”Over the years his “Hamilton” had been destroyed; his equestrian statue had twice been turned aside; and most of his other ideal works remained in plaster, for lack of a patron who would pay to have them carved in marble. The sculptor continued to do minor works--cameos, wax medallions, and so forth--and even for a while amused himself by burning images into a piece of wood with a hot poker. After the mid-1850's he seems to have given up on sculpture altogether...”

“One can only wonder why Hughes did not receive more patronage. Not only did private individuals and municipal governments fail to avail themselves fully of the genius he had to offer, but also the federal government--which between 1830 and 1860 was commissioning tons of sculptural adornments for the buildings in Washington--never once considered making use of Hughes' ability, though they employed many Italian artisan-stonecutters. Although Hughes received his training in England, it was in America that nearly all his artistic activity occurred. But Robert Ball Hughes' special significance as a transitional figure is that he arrived at the moment when the United States was beginning to rear her own corps of gifted sculptors and no longer found it necessary to rely entirely on imported talent. As Hughes began his first works in New York City, John Frazee had already modeled his first portrait busts; Horatio Greenough had begun his career in Italy; and Hiram Powers was about to start modeling portraits in Cincinnati. Within the decade both Powers and young Thomas Crawford were to journey to Italy to begin life-long residences there. Thus, at about the time of Hughes' arrival, one epoch in American sculpture came to a close and another began.”

"Thank you for informing me about your website on Ball Hughes.  He was a favorite of mine when I was writing Sculpture in America, simply because he was by far the best, most gifted sculptor working in America during his era. It's a pitty America wasn't quite as ready for sculpture as it might have been and encouraged him more with more commissions... I'm glad you have established a website and I'll look forward to following it."

 

Robert Ball Hughes died on March 5, 1868, at age 64, and is buried in Cedar Grove Cemetery in Dorchester, MA across from his first home on Adams St.

    Read Eliza’s touching account of Ball Hughes' final hours and his death in her arms on pp. 45-49 of the Sketch of the Life of Robert Ball Hughes at Passing Out Of The Shadow: 1868.

The Last Word

“... I wish you to remember him as a sculptor of great talent indeed a man of genius–which showed itself in whatever he touch'd.”

Further Reading:

Robert Ball Hughes -- More Than a Coin Designer? by John Dannreuther in the April 2007 issue of Rare Coin Market Report, the Members magazine of the PCGS Collectors Club, available here courtesy PCGS, a division of Collector's Universe (NASDAQ:CLCT). Article is also available at http://www.pcgs.com/articles/article_view.chtml?artid=5783&universeid=313&type=1.