Credit: The Royal Society
Image number: RS.9741
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Portrait of Peter Ball
Date
1671
Sitter
Peter Ball (1598 - 1680, British) , Barrister
Creator
John Riley (1646 - 1691, British) , Painter
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Dimensions
height (painting): 786mm
width (painting): 645mm
width (painting): 645mm
Description
Half-length portrait of Peter Ball wearing a black skullcap, black robe and white squared collar. The sitter is white-haired and has a small beard and moustache, shown within a painted oval with an acanthus motif.
The portrait contains a Latin inscription: ‘Petrus Balle miles/Aetatis 74/1671’ which translates as ‘Peter Ball knight/Aged 74/1671’.
Purchased by the Royal Society in 1993 as a portrait of Peter Ball FRS (1633-1675), this painting actually shows his father, Sir Peter Ball (1598-1680). Sir Peter was not a Fellow of the Royal Society, but was the father of two Fellows, the astronomer William Ball FRS (c.1631–1690) and the physician Peter Ball who this painting was previously thought to show.
The portrait contains a Latin inscription: ‘Petrus Balle miles/Aetatis 74/1671’ which translates as ‘Peter Ball knight/Aged 74/1671’.
Purchased by the Royal Society in 1993 as a portrait of Peter Ball FRS (1633-1675), this painting actually shows his father, Sir Peter Ball (1598-1680). Sir Peter was not a Fellow of the Royal Society, but was the father of two Fellows, the astronomer William Ball FRS (c.1631–1690) and the physician Peter Ball who this painting was previously thought to show.
Transcription
Petrus Balle miles/Aetatis 74/1671
Portrait of Sir John Ball Painterd by Ryley
The Marquis of Townsend Raynham Hall
194. J.RILEY. Portrait of Peter Ball, Physician. In dark dress and skull cap, white lawn collar. In a sculpted oval – dated 1671. 29in by 24 ½ in...Marquis of Townsend.
PETER BALL F.R.S. BY JOHN RILEY PURCHASED 1993
Portrait of Sir John Ball Painterd by Ryley
The Marquis of Townsend Raynham Hall
194. J.RILEY. Portrait of Peter Ball, Physician. In dark dress and skull cap, white lawn collar. In a sculpted oval – dated 1671. 29in by 24 ½ in...Marquis of Townsend.
PETER BALL F.R.S. BY JOHN RILEY PURCHASED 1993
Object history
Purchased by the Royal Society from Sotheby’s ‘British Paintings 1500-1850’ auction, November 1993.
Located at Raynham Hall, Norfolk, England until 1904 then sold by Christie Manson and Wood; bought by ‘Johnstone’ for 11 guineas. [Portraits in Norfolk Houses, by Frederick Duleep Singh, ed by Edmund Farrer (Jarrold, Norwich, 1927), vol.2 p.198].
The bare fact of the Royal Society’s purchase is recorded in Officers’ Minutes; “Noted that the Society had purchased a portrait of Peter Ball, one of the original Fellows of the Society“ [Royal Society Officers’ Minutes, OMM/19, meeting of 30 November 1993 [OM/110 (93)] p.53].
Located at Raynham Hall, Norfolk, England until 1904 then sold by Christie Manson and Wood; bought by ‘Johnstone’ for 11 guineas. [Portraits in Norfolk Houses, by Frederick Duleep Singh, ed by Edmund Farrer (Jarrold, Norwich, 1927), vol.2 p.198].
The bare fact of the Royal Society’s purchase is recorded in Officers’ Minutes; “Noted that the Society had purchased a portrait of Peter Ball, one of the original Fellows of the Society“ [Royal Society Officers’ Minutes, OMM/19, meeting of 30 November 1993 [OM/110 (93)] p.53].
Associated place