Rebecca Solomon (London 26 September 1832 – 20 November 1886 London) was a 19th-century English Pre-Raphaelite draftsman, illustrator, engraver, and painter of social injustices. She is the second of three children who all became artists, in a prominent Jewish family.

Biography

Rebecca Solomon was born on 26 September 1832, the youngest of the three daughters, and she was one of eight children born into an artistically-inclined Jewish merchant family in

Bishopsgate Bishopsgate was one of the eastern gates in London's former defensive wall. The gate's name is traditionally attributed to Earconwald, who was Bishop of London in the 7th century. It was first built in Roman times and marked the beginning o ...

in east London. Her father was Michael (Meyer) Solomon, the first Jew to be honoured with the Freedom of the City of London; her mother was Catherine (Kate) Levy. Solomon was the lesser-known artist to her painter brothers

Simeon Solomon Simeon Solomon (9 October 1840 – 14 August 1905) was a British painter associated with the Pre-Raphaelites who was noted for his depictions of Jewish life and same-sex desire. His career was cut short as a result of public scandal following h ...

(1840–1905) and

Abraham Solomon Abraham Solomon (London 7 May 1823 – 19 December 1862 Biarritz) was a British painter. The second son of eight children born to Meyer Solomon, a Leghorn hat manufacturer and his wife Catherine (Kate) Levy. His father was one of the firs ...

(1824–1862). There were five other children in the family: Aaron, Betsy, Isaac, Ellen, and Sylvester. Initially Solomon was taught by her older brother Abraham and worked in his studio as an apprentice and copyist. She also, took lessons at the Spitalfields School of Design. Solomon exhibited at the

Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

between 1852 and 1868, and also at the

Dudley Gallery Dudley ( , ) is a market town in the West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically part of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. In the 20 ...

and Gambart's French Gallery. Solomon worked in the studio of

John Everett Millais Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet ( , ; 8 June 1829 – 13 August 1896) was an English painter and illustrator who was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He was a child prodigy who, aged eleven, became the youngest s ...

, one of founders of the

Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB), later known as the Pre-Raphaelites, was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossett ...

. She also worked with the second wave Pre-Raphaelite artist,

Edward Burne-Jones Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August 183317 June 1898) was an English painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's style and subject matter. Burne-Jones worked with William Morris as a founding part ...

. Solomon taught her younger brother, Simeon, much of what she learned from her assistant-ship to Millais. Solomon was also active in contemporary social reform movements and in 1859 she joined a group of thirty-eight women artists petitioning the Royal Academy of Arts to open its schools to women, which led to the first woman, Laura Herford, being admitted to the Academy in 1860. After her elder brother, Abraham's death in 1862, she made sure to find work outside of his studio. As a result, Solomon broadened her material use when developing new works of art. Her newer mediums included: illustration and watercolors. Her last recorded exhibition was in 1874. In 1886, Solomon died aged 54, from injuries sustained after being run over by a

hansom cab The hansom cab is a kind of horse-drawn carriage designed and patented in 1834 by Joseph Hansom, an architect from York. The vehicle was developed and tested by Hansom in Hinckley, Leicestershire, England. Originally called the Hansom safet ...

on the

Euston Road Euston Road is a road in Central London that runs from Marylebone Road to Kings Cross, London, King's Cross. The route is part of the London Inner Ring Road and forms part of the London congestion charge zone boundary. It is named after Euston ...

in central London.

Themes within her work

Solomon's artistic style was typical of popular 19th-century painting at the time and falls under the category of

genre painting Genre painting (or petit genre) is the painting of genre art, which depicts aspects of everyday life by portraying ordinary people engaged in common activities. One common definition of a genre scene is that it shows figures to whom no identity ca ...

. She used her visual images to critique ethnic, gender and class prejudice in Victorian England. When Solomon started painting genre scenes, her work demonstrated an observant eye for class, ethnic and gender discrimination. Solomon's paintings reflect a combination of interest in the theatre and commitment to social consciousness that is not exist in other artist's painting in the nineteenth century. One critic commented on the wholesome, moral and sometimes humanizing sentiment in her art, not an uncommon element in Victorian painting. However, Solomon's Jewish background was probably instrumental in developing her critical consciousness of difference and prejudice. Over the next ten to fifteen years, her artwork explored the plight of women and minorities, and the dominance of class discrimination in English society. She is considered among the first women from a Jewish background to make a prominent career as a painter in Britain. In the late 1850s Solomon made a successful transition to classical and historical painting, the most highly valued genre of art within the powerful art academies of the time. True to her vision, she continued to include images that reflected the historical foundations of nineteenth-century social injustice. ''The Governess'' (1854), compares the lives of two women within a Victorian home; One being an isolated working-class woman and the other, married and of a higher status. This work by Solomon emphasizes the loneliness of a governess' predicament.

Gallery

File:TheGovernessRebeccaSolomon.jpg, ''The Governess'' File:A Fashionable Couple by Rebecca Solomon (c.1856).jpg, ''A Fashionable Couple'' File:The Friend in Need (from the "Illustrated London News") MET DP872979.jpg, ''The Friend in Need'' File:Rebecca Solomon-The Claim for Shelter.jpg, ''The Claim for Shelter'' File:A Young Teacher).jpg, ''A Young Teacher'' File:Primavera by Rebecca Solomon (1864).jpg, ''Primavera'' File:Peg Woffington's Visit to Triplet by Rebecca Solomon (1867).jpg, ''Peg Woffington's Visit to Triplet'' Solomon's artworks were exhibited in numerous venues in England from 1850 through 1885. Venues featuring her work included the Royal Academy of Arts, the

British Institution The British Institution (in full, the British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom; founded 1805, disbanded 1867) was a private 19th-century society in London formed to exhibit the works of living and dead artists; it ...

, the

Royal Society of British Artists The Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) is a British art body established in 1823 as the Society of British Artists, as an alternative to the Royal Academy. History The RBA commenced with twenty-seven members, and took until 1876 to reach fi ...

, the Royal Institution, Gambart's French Gallery, the Dudley Gallery, and the Liverpool Society of Fine Arts. Her painting ''

Peg Woffington Margaret Woffington (18 October 1720 – 28 March 1760), was an Irish actress and socialite of the Georgian era. Early life Woffington was born of humble origins in Dublin, Ireland yet excelled in playing women from the upper classes. Her f ...

's Visit to Triplet'' also appeared in the 1867 Exposition Universelle in Paris. At the Royal Academy's annual

Summer Exhibition The Summer Exhibition is an open art exhibition held annually by the Royal Academy in Burlington House, Piccadilly in central London, England, during the months of June, July, and August. The exhibition includes paintings, prints, drawings, sc ...

, Solomon exhibited almost annually between 1852 and 1869. Her paintings at the Royal Academy were * ''A. Solomon, Esq.'' (1852, no. 1055) * ''The Governess'' (1854, no. 425) * ''The Story of Balaclava'' (1855, no. 1360) * ''A Friend in Need'' (1856, no. 511) * ''Tis better to be lowly born, etc.'' (1857, no. 27) * ''Behind the Curtain'' (1858, no. 1094) * ''Love's Labour Lost'' (1859, no. 548) * ''Peg Woffington's Visit to Triplet'' (1860, no. 269) * ''The Arrest of a Deserter'' (1861, no. 581; now at the

Israel Museum The Israel Museum (, ''Muze'on Yisrael'', ) is an Art museum, art and archaeology museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world's leading Encyclopedic museum, encyclopa ...

, Jerusalem) * ''Fugitive Royalists'' (1862, no. 432; also exhibited at the Dudley Gallery, London in 1866–67) * ''Good Night'' (1863, no. 668) * ''Henry Esmond's Welcome at Walcote'' (1864, no. 502; also titled ''Beatrix Welcoming Henry Esmond to Walcote'')Christie's, London, 27 July 1921, lot 130. * ''The Lion and the Mouse'' (1865, nos. 459 and 479) * ''Heloise'' (1867, no. 150) * ''Giovannina--Roma'' (1867, no. 484) * ''Helena and Hermia'' (1869, no. 785) * ''A Bit of Old London'' was exhibited posthumously, in 1903 (no. 827)

References

Bibliography

* Marsh, Jan and Pamela Gerrish Nunn. ''Pre-Raphaelite Women Artists''. New York: Thames & Hudson, 1999. * Ferrari, Roberto C. “Rebecca Solomon, Pre-Raphaelite Sister.” ''The Review of the Pre-Raphaelite Society'', 12:2 (Summer 2004): 23–36. * Daniels, Jeffery. "Solomon : a family of painters : Abraham Solomon, 1823–1862, Rebecca Solomon, 1832–1886, Simeon Solomon, 1840–1905" London: Inner Education Authority, 1985. *Nunn, Pamela Gerrish. "Rebecca Solomon's 'A Young Teacher'" ''The Burlington Magazine'' Vol. 130, No. 1027 (Oct. 1988), pp. 769–770 *Harris, Elree I., and Shirley R. Scott. A Gallery of Her Own: An Annotated Bibliography of Women in Victorian Painting. London: Routledge, 1997. *Hill, Kate. Women and Museums 1850–1914: Modernity and the Gendering of Knowledge. 1st ed., Manchester University Press, 2016 *Casteras, Susan P. The Art Bulletin: Reviewed Works, vol. 80, no. 4, 1998, pp. 750–752. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3051324. Accessed 25 Mar. 2020. *“Rebecca Solomon Biography.” Simeon Solomon Research Archive, www.simeonsolomon.com/rebecca-solomon-biography.html. *Round, Alex. "Rebecca Solomon as a Social Activist", ''The Victorian Web'', https://victorianweb.org/painting/solomonr/round.html

External links