Larger Type
Smaller Type

Search Collections

Fedalma

1883-1884 George Fuller Born: Deerfield, Massachusetts 1822 Died: Brookline, Massachusetts 1884 oil on canvas 42 1/8 x 30 3/8 in. (107.0 x 77.0 cm.) Smithsonian American Art Museum Gift of John Gellatly 1929.6.45 Smithsonian American Art Museum
3rd Floor, Luce Foundation Center

This painting shows the heroine of George Eliot's poem The Spanish Gypsy. In the poem the gypsy Fedalma must choose between family duty and the prospect of a happy marriage with a wealthy duke ("Women in the Literary Marketplace," Cornell Univ. Library Web site). Fuller chose to show her holding a gold necklace, a gift from the duke that symbolized the splendor he could offer her.

For more information about this work visit the Luce Foundation Center.

Keywords

Ethnic - Gypsy

Ethnic - Spanish

Figure female

Literature - Eliot - Spanish Gypsy

painting

paint - oil

fabric - canvas

About George Fuller

Born: Deerfield, Massachusetts 1822 Died: Brookline, Massachusetts 1884

More works in the collection by
George Fuller