The Crystal Ball (painting)

{{Short description|Painting by John William Waterhouse}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox artwork

| image_file = John William Waterhouse - The Crystal Ball.JPG

| title = The Crystal Ball

| artist = John William Waterhouse

| year = 1902

| medium = Oil on canvas

| material =

| height_metric = 120.7

| width_metric = 87.7

| metric_unit = cm

| city =

| museum =

| owner = Private collection

}}

The Crystal Ball is a painting by John William Waterhouse completed in 1902.{{cite web|url=http://www.johnwilliamwaterhouse.com/pictures/crystal-ball-1902/|title=The Crystal Ball|accessdate=30 January 2013}} Waterhouse displayed both it and The Missal in the Royal Academy of 1902. The painting shows the influence of the Italian Renaissance with vertical and horizontal lines, along with circles "rather than the pointed arches of the Gothic".Hobson, Anthony. 1989. J. W. Waterhouse. Oxford: Phaidon Christie's. p. 81. {{ISBN|0-7148-8066-3}}

Part of a private collection,Noakes, Aubrey. 2004. Waterhouse: John William Waterhouse. London: Chaucer Press. p. 76. {{ISBN|1-904449-39-5}} the painting, which depicts a crystal ball, a wand, a book of ceremonial magic, and a woman "weaving a spell", has been restored to show the skull which had been covered by a previous owner.[https://useum.org/artwork/The-Crystal-Ball-John-William-Waterhouse-1902 USEUM article]