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Solomon's earliest work is mostly confined to biblical compositions, usually treating subjects of Jewish history. He was a natural choice to provide illustrations for the 'Bible Gallery', an ambitious project of a hundred or more wood engravings conceived by the brothers Dalziel in 1859. This extraordinary drawing was much too risque for that purpose, and was exhibited separately at the French Gallery Winter Exhibition in 1859. It illustrates a passage in Jeremiah containing the prophet's lamentation over the Jewish people's captivity under the kingdom of Babylon: 'Babylon hath been a golden cup in the hand of God, which hath made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine, therefore all the nations are mad.'When this drawing entered the Birmingham Collection it was known as 'King David' and was thought to depict the maiden, Abishag, ministering to the aged king (1 Kings 1:1-4). Gayle Seymour, in her PhD thesis, 'The Life and Work of Simeon Solomon (1840-1905)', identified the drawing as the one exhibited at the French Gallery, London, in 1859, with the catalogue entry quoted above.
- Presented by the Alfred Leadbeater Bequest Fund, 1925.
- © Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery
Makers
Association |
Artist |
Organisation |
Artist |
Simeon Solomon |
- |
Inscriptions
Type |
Position(s) |
Method |
Date(s) |
Notes |
SS 9 59 |
Monogram |
bottom left |
Handwritten |
1859-09 |
|
|
Exhibitions
Catalogue No. |
Venue |
Date(s) |
7th Annual Winter Exhibition of Cabinet Pictures, Sketches and Drawings |
143 |
French Gallery, London |
1859-11-12 - 1859-11-12 |
|
Visions of Love and Life: Pre-Raphaelite Art from the Birmingham Collection, England |
52 |
Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington |
1995-03-09 - 1995-05-07 |
52 |
Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio |
1995-05-27 - 1995-07-16 |
52 |
Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, Delaware |
1995-08-11 - 1995-10-15 |
52 |
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas |
1995-11-04 - 1996-01-02 |
52 |
High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia |
1996-01-23 - 1996-04-10 |
52 |
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery |
1996-05-25 - 1996-09-29 |
|
Exposed: The Victorian Nude |
78 |
Tate Britain, London |
2001-11-01 - 2002-01-27 |
78 |
Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany |
2002-03-01 - 2002-06-02 |
78 |
Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, U.S.A. |
2002-09-06 - 2003-01-05 |
|
Love Revealed: Simeon Solomon and the Pre-Raphaelites |
17 |
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery |
2005-10-01 - 2006-01-15 |
17 |
Museum Villa Stuck, Munich |
2006-03-09 - 2006-06-18 |
17 |
Ben Uri Gallery, The London Jewish Museum of Art |
2006-09-11 - 2006-11-26 |
|
Literature
Author(s) |
Date(s) |
Publisher |
Pages |
City of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery: Catalogue of the Permanent Collection of Drawings |
A E Whitley |
1939 |
Bemrose & Sons, Ltd., Derby |
p. 401. |
|
Abraham Solomon, Painter of Fashion, and Simeon Solomon, Decadent Artist |
Lionel Lambourne |
1968 |
The Jewish Historical Society of England, London |
pl. 24, fig. 10, p. 278; p. 280. |
|
The Vision of Simeon Solomon |
Simon Reynolds |
1984 |
Catalpa Press Ltd., Stroud, Glos |
pl. 16; p. 11. |
|
A Vision of Love: Homosexual and Androgynous Themes in Simeon Solomon's Work after 1873 |
Emmanuel Cooper |
1985 |
Inner London Education Authority |
pl. xxi, p. 32; p. 31. |
|
The Life and Work of Simeon Solomon 1840-1905 |
Gayle Seymour |
1986 |
University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor, Michigan |
fig. 48, p. 271; pp. 48-50. |
|
Visions of Love and Life: Pre-Raphaelite Art from the Birmingham Collection, England |
Stephen Wildman |
1995 |
Art Services International, Alexandria, Virginia |
no. 52, p. 187; pp. 185-186. |
|
The Pre-Raphaelite nude |
Alison Smith |
1997 |
Ashgate Publishing Ltd., Aldershot |
pp. 83-84. |
|
Simeon Solomon: A Drama of Desire |
Colin Cruise |
Autumn 1998 |
The Jewish Quarterly |
p. 63; pp. 65-67. |
|
Exposed: The Victorian Nude |
Alison Smith |
2001 |
Tate Publishing, London |
p. 155. |
|
Love Revealed: Simeon Solomon and the Pre-Raphaelites |
Colin Cruise |
2005 |
Merrell, London and New York |
p. 77. |
|
The Old Testament Paintings and Drawings: The Search for Identity in the Post-Emancipation Era |
Gayle Seymour |
2005 |
Merrell, London and New York |
pp. 17-18. |
Provenance
Purchased (Alfred Leadbeater Bequest Fund), 1925. |
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