Juley Collection

Painter George Fuller is depicted in this portrait from the Peter A. Juley and Son Collection.

The Juley Collection archives some 127,000 photographs of American artists and their work assembled by Peter and Paul Juley in New York between 1896 and 1975.

George Fuller was born in Deerfield, Massachusetts, and studied drawing with the sculptor Henry Kirke Brown and attended classes at the Boston Artists' Association. In the late 1870s his evocative, poetic landscapes, influenced by the work of Washington Allston and the French Barbizon school painters Jean-Francois Millet and Camille Corot, launched his artistic reputation.

He is perhaps best known for images of pensive, melancholy young women. This work, painted in 1883–1884, is based on "The Spanish Gypsy," a dramatic poem by George Eliot, published in 1868. The main character, Fedalma, is torn between her love for a Spanish nobleman and her gypsy heritage.

Pictured top: Portrait of George Fuller, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Peter A. Juley and Son Collection.

Pictured bottom: George Fuller, 1822–1884, Fedalma, 1883–1884, oil, 42 1/8 x 30 3/8 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of John Gellatly.