Radiant biblical subjects. Haunting mythological visions. Intimate scenes of same-sex love. Few artists worked with such breadth, originality, and conviction as Simeon Solomon. Born into a middle-class Jewish family in Victorian London, he became one of the most daring and distinctive figures of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, hailed by fellow artist Edward Burne-Jones as “the greatest of us all.”
After Solomon’s arrest for attempted sodomy, his career faltered. Rejected by the art establishment in which he had once thrived, he lived for decades under precarious circumstances marked by alcoholism, homelessness, and repeated stays in workhouses. Yet Solomon did not disappear. He continued to produce an extensive body of work that found a new generation of champions, even as later histories of British art minimized his achievements or omitted him entirely. 
This book restores Solomon to the ranks of the nineteenth century’s major artists by recognizing his Judaism and sexuality as essential to the power of his work. Drawing on Pre-Raphaelitism, Jewish tradition, and classical antiquity, Solomon forged an artistic vision that transcended the conventions of the Victorian era.
Exhibition Schedule:
Delaware Art Museum
(March 13 – June 27, 2027)