Oil Painting, 'Magdalen College, Oxford, from the Cloisters', John Fulleylove, ca. 1899

Given by James Orrock

Given by James Orrock, 1900

Historical significance: John Fulleylove (1845-1908) originally trained as an architect, and was apprenticed to the firm of Flint and Shenton in his native Leicester. During this time he took lessons in painting, and eventually adopted this as his profession, exhibiting in London from 1871. Fulleylove was primarily a watercolourist; he held many exhibitions of his watercolours at the Fine Art Society's galleries from 1886 onwards. He travelled widely, and this, along with his interest in architecture, provided him with subjects for themed exhibitions. He exhibited watercolour views of Oxford in 1888 and of Cambridge in 1890, of Paris and Versailles in 1894 and of the Holy Land in 1902.

Fulleylove also painted in oils, and in 1899 a group of small panel paintings of views around Oxford was exhibited at the Fine Art Society. This view of Magdalen College, Oxford and its companion of Queen's College were probably painted for this exhibition. Both compositions foreground important architectural elements - Magdalen College tower, and the cupola at the entrance to Queen's College - but at the same time the paintings evoke the day-to-day life which unfolds around them: a don crossing the quadrangle, and the busy High Street.

Both paintings were given to the museum in 1900 by the painter and collector James Orrock (1829-1913), as part of a group of 27 oils and watercolours. Orrock was a vigorous promoter of British art, and argued strongly for its more thorough representation in museums; he lectured at the Society of Arts in 1890 on 'the claims of the British school of painting to a thorough representation in the National Gallery'. His gifts to the V&A (which before the establishment of the Tate Gallery was the National Gallery of British Art) were intended to address this issue.

17-1900