3-098-632 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

The Ball Game, c1779. A scene of sporting entertainment. In the foreground, two young men are playing with a ball, watched by several spectators. The scene unfolds amidst a monumental setting in which a polygonal building, a distant obelisk, and a pyramid (inspired by its counterpart at the Pyramid of Cestius in Rome) stand out against a landscape background, with a mountain range to the right, all under a cloudy sky. Preparatory work for the hard stone panels of the consoles made at the Buen Retiro Workshop, intended for the furnishing of the Royal Sites during the last decade of the reign of Charles III (1759-1788).