1867 – 1946

Born in South Africa to a prominent family, Florence Fuller migrated with her family to Melbourne, Australia at a young age. Throughout her teen years, she studied art under the tutelage of Robert Hawker Dowling and Jane Sutherland, as well as attended classes at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School. After Dowling’s death in 1886, it was Fuller who was asked to complete several of his unfinished canvases; this led to commissions from wealthy patrons which allowed Fuller to open her own art studio in her early twenties.

Fuller briefly returned to South Africa, where she notably painted for Cecil Rhodes, before moving to Europe in 1894. First studying in Paris under William-Adolphe Bouguereau, establishing herself and having her work exhibited twice at the Paris Salon. During her travels, Fuller would also spend time in the United Kingdom, exhibiting at Royal Academy of Arts and the Royal Academy of Oil Painters in London, as well as at the Manchester City Art Gallery.

As she entered her thirties, Fuller continued travelling extensively. Living briefly in Perth -  it was here in 1905 that she painted the canvas often praised as her masterpiece, ‘A Golden Hour’. By 1914, Fuller had settled in Sydney, and was a highly regarded portrait and landscape painter, represented by four galleries which was an unprecedented feat for a female Australian artist at the time.

Fuller’s paintings can be found in a number of national collections at the National Gallery of Australia, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Art Gallery of South Australia, National Gallery of Victoria, and the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

To read a more in-depth bio, click here.