Albert Ball
- Artist: Henry Poole
- Date: 1920
- Medium: bronze
- Dimensions: 24 in. x 9 1/4 in. (610 mm x 235 mm) overall
- Portrays: Albert Ball
- Museum: The National Portrait Gallery
- Collection record: The National Portrait Gallery website
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About this artwork
This is a bronze statuette by Henry Poole, created in the early 1920s. The piece measures about 24 inches tall and captures Albert Ball standing straight, arms at his sides, wearing his flight uniform and gloves—details that suggest both readiness and discipline. Poole rendered the brass of the wingspan and the polished bronze surface with careful shading, giving the model a sculptural depth that invites eye‑movement along Ball’s profile.
Ball was a 20‑year‑old Royal Flying Corps ace, credited with forty‑four enemy aircraft downed before he crashed in May 1917. He flew bareheaded and without goggles, yet Poole shows him with gloves and gauntlets, perhaps to honor the uniform of his era. This model later served as the base for a life‑size monument erected in Nottingham to commemorate Ball, whose father Sir Albert presented it to the Gallery in 1929.
See it in person
Albert Ball is in the collection of The National Portrait Gallery at St Martin's Place, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
