AFA Winter 2017

Winter 94 www.afamag.com |  www.incollect.com than merit.” He suggested that Augustus increase his most expensive $20 portrait to $30. For the six-month trip, George recorded sixty-eight portraits by Augustus that produced $658.50, including $129 accepted as goods. Their expenses were $250.74, plus $50 sent to their parents. However, the technical difficulties of the early daguerreotype process resulted in George selling his new apparatus for a $20 loss and being “glad to get rid of it at that price.” Seeing the success of Augustus, George began his own painting career and would later become one of the most prominent artists in America. In 1841 George drew a likeness of his brother Augustus (Fig. 12). As he traveled to a new location, Augustus sometimes found that the local economy was poor or that other portrait painters had recently visited. In 1842, a stage coach driver told him that there were so many portrait painters that “there are 6 painters in Haverhill, New Hampshire, who are now in ships fishing.” From Manchester, New Hampshire, he wrote, “I have many calls and don’t like the business because $10 is to little & unreasonable . . . People say there is no money.” When he was disappointed that his patrons would only agree to a low price he would call them “devilish charges.” Getting paid was sometimes a problem. Having painted three portraits for a Mr. Dickinson and expecting $25 dollars, Augustus was unwilling to accept $13 in cash and the balance in goods from Dickinson’s store. In another letter he recounted how “one rascal has told me lies, for the purpose of finishing 7 portraits for $42, but he was put in jail for cheating money with some lady, said he wanted to learn an art of portrait painting . . . he was a house painter.” In a letter to George in 1843, Augustus explained that he did better in the country than in urban areas. “[T]he Bostonians do not pay me the whole, I feel obliged to the counties. They give me money quickly.” Letters often expressed concern about Augustus and his problems with alcohol. As early as 1840, George Caldwell, a deaf-mute friend, wrote to his father, “I think you should take him home because he will continue to be drunk all the times . . . he often goes to some bad houses and pay[s] his own money to girls . . . one gentleman was insulted by him in [the] street and almost struck him with his cane . . . He told me he drank 17 glasses of brandy per day . . . I think he shall ruin himself by drinking to excess.” On several occasions, Augustus wrote to family members promising abstinence, “you may know that I have pledged cold water Temperance . . . Portrait Painters should be very careful never dally to destroy this sacred tribute of respect and profession.” Augustus experienced intolerance from many quarters. The Boston Daily Bee reported in 1846 that bystanders had brought an assault case against a boy “for throwing stones at Augustus Fuller and otherwise assaulting him . . . Fuller is a deaf and dumb man.” Yet his business continued to thrive and one of his brothers noted that “Augustus came home this week in good health & spirits drove to death with business staid [ sic ] only two days.” In December 1850, Augustus was sentenced to six months imprisonment in the Hampden County House of Correction, Springfield, Massachusetts, “for selling obscene prints.” When his crime was reported in newspapers throughout New England, there was much consternation amongst the family members. In a letter to George, Augustus explained Fig. 8 : Augustus Fuller (1812–1873), Daniel Rice (1823–1900), Waterloo, N.Y., ca. 1835–1836. Watercolor on paper, 4 x 3 inches. Collection of the Memorial Hall Museum, Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield, Mass. Photograph by the authors. Daniel Rice became a famous circus clown and entertainer. This portrait was found in a pocketbook that also contained letters by Augustus Fuller. Fig. 9 : Augustus Fuller (1812–1873), Alexander Allen Cameron, probably Springfield, Mass., 1858. Watercolor on paper, 9 x 8 inches. Inscribed on front, “Augustus Fuller painter 1858” and “Alexander Allen Cameron.” Photograph courtesy of Charles Flint Antiques, Lenox, Mass. Collection of Historic Deerfield, Deerfield, Mass.