Editing Thomas Ball (artist) (section)

=== Sculptor ===
[[Image:Charles Sumner statue in Boston Public Garden - detail.JPG|thumb|left|200px|''[[Statue of Charles Sumner (Boston)|Charles Sumner]]'' (1878), [[Public Garden (Boston, Massachusetts)|The Public Garden]], Boston, Massachusetts.]]
He stayed in Boston until 1865 when he returned to Florence to stay there until 1897 as a member of an artistic colony that included [[Robert Browning|Robert]] and [[Elizabeth Barrett Browning]] and [[Hiram Powers]]. Notables he met in Europe included [[Franz Liszt]], whom he met at the [[Vatican City|Vatican]] in 1865 and of whom he produced a portrait bust.<ref name=johnson /><ref name=":0">Ball, ''Threescore'', 273–5</ref>

He made it a practice never to attend the unveiling of his public works. In Boston, he managed to avoid receiving the invitation to the ceremonial dedication of his statue of Governor [[John Albion Andrew]]. Instead, he saw the work later, viewing it from different angles. He later wrote: "It was a mean thing to do. I am ashamed of it now, but I could not bring myself to stand on that platform and face the multitude."<ref>Ball, ''Threescore'', 297</ref>

[[Dartmouth College]] awarded him an honorary Master of Arts degree.<ref name="Ball, Threescore, 216">Ball, ''Threescore'', 216</ref> When he returned to America, he lived in [[Montclair, New Jersey]], while keeping a studio in New York City.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}<ref name="nytobit">{{cite news|title=Famous Sculptor Dead|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1911/12/12/104885468.pdf |accessdate=August 25, 2012|newspaper=New York Times|date=December 12, 1911}}</ref>

In 1880, Ball published an autobiographical volume, ''My Threescore Years'', which he updated in 1890 as ''My Three Score Years and Ten''.<ref>{{cite news|title=Sculptor Ball's Autobiography|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1891/10/18/106054283.pdf|accessdate=August 25, 2012|newspaper=New York Times|date=October 18, 1891}}</ref> He died at the Montclair home of his daughter, Eliza Chickering Ball, and son-in-law, sculptor [[William Couper (sculptor)|William Couper]].<ref name="nytobit" /><ref>Ball, ''Threescore'', 295</ref>