John Fulleylove RI (1845–1908) was born in Leicester and originally trained locally as an architect. He spent his free time sketching from nature, developing a strong interest in Picturesque architecture, and received some instruction from Harry Ward, a drawing master of the school of James Duffield Harding. He was also influenced by his friend, the landscape painter Thomas Collier (1840–1891).
In 1878 Fulleylove married the artist Elizabeth Elgood, whose brothers George and Thomas were also artists. Fulleylove travelled widely in Europe and the near East, illustrating books on subjects as diverse as the Holy Land, Greece and Oxford. He exhibited frequently in London, where he was elected an member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours in 1880 and a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Oils in 1883. Also in 1883 the Fulleyloves relocated from Leicester to London, and became part of a circle of leading artists that included Sir James Linton, Charles Green, James Orrock and Lewis Day.
Fulleylove secured his reputation with eight solo shows held at the Fine Art Society between 1886 and 1906, which enabled him to increase his work a landscape illustrator. He also raised his international profile, and received a bronze medal at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1889 and an honourable mention at the Exposition Universelle in 1900.
From 1894, Fulleylove lived in Hampstead, where he aged fifty.
Fulleylove's work can be found in numerous public collections, including the V&A and British Museum, the New Walk Museum & Art Gallery, Leicester, and the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven.
