Biography of Simeon Solomon 1840-1905

Simeon Solomon 1840-1905 is in Painters.

On the on the 11 February 1873, at the age of thirty-two and at the height of his artistic career, Solomon was arrested with George Roberts, a sixty-year-old illiterate stableman in a public urinal, by police constable William Mitchell, around the corner from Marylebone Lane Police Station, in Stratford Place Mews, off Oxford Street. On the following day magistrate, Lieutenant L. T. D’Eyncourt, of the Marylebone Police Court, read the charge that both men had "unlawfully attempt feloniously to commit the abominable crime of buggery". Roberts protested that it was a false charge and when prompted, Solomon acquiesced that it was "equally so" with him. Despite their protests, both men were found guilty of attempted sodomy, but after his six week detainment in the Clerkenwell House of Detention, the artist was subsequently released to the care of his cousin Myer Salaman on a surety of £100, and the promise that he behaved himself.

On 09 Oct 1840 Simeon Solomon was born to Michael Meyer Solomon.

On 24 Apr 1856 Simeon Solomon (age 15) was admitted to the Royal Academy Schools, having been proposed by the Victorian painter Augustus Egg, R.A.

Around 1857 Simeon Solomon (age 16) was introduced by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (age 28) to members of the Pre-Raphealite Brotherhood including Algernon Charles Swinburne (age 19) and Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 23).

The Diary of George Price Boyce 1855-1857. 07 Apr 1857. Went to [his brother] Solomon's (age 33). He has a grand picture, "Waiting for the Verdict." Saw some remarkable designs by his young brother (Simeon (age 16)) showing much Rossetti-like feeling8.

Note 8. Abraham Solomon (1824-62), elder brother of Rebecca and Simeon, Lived at 18 Gower Street and was showing his picture before it went to the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition where it was enthusiastically received (Private Collection). Simeon Solomon (c. 1840-1905) who died in poverty and disgrace, though a lesser artist than his brother, attracted attention from his youth with his Old Testament and mystical designs.

In 1858 Simeon Solomon (age 17) exhibited at the Royal Academy.

The Diary of George Price Boyce 1858. 13 Feb 1858. February 13. Miss Cooke came to sit for me. Little Simeon Solomon (age 17) called and stayed a long while and jawed and bored us considerably. Burges came up and I introduced them.

The Diary of George Price Boyce 1858. 19 Feb 1858. February 19. [his brother] Solomon’s (age 34) weekly re-union. Tea and fish, wine and cake. Much interested with a book of sketches by young Simeon (age 17).

1859. Simeon Solomon (age 18). "Mrs. Fanny Eaton (age 23)".

1859. Simeon Solomon (age 18). "Babylon hath been a golden cup". Pen and ink. One of the illustrations for the "Bible Gallery", a hundred-print collection of engravings conceived by the brothers Dalziel in 1859. This drawing depicts the Jewish King David and the maiden, Abishag, looking concerned and androgynous, and illustrates a passage in Jeremiah lamentating the Jewish people's captivity by 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.' The drawing was considered too risque for the Bible Gallery, and was exhibited separately at the French Gallery Winter Exhibition in 1859. Source.

1859. Simeon Solomon (age 18). Self-Portrait.

1859 to 1863. Simeon Solomon (age 18). "Dante's First Meeting with Beatrice".

The Diary of George Price Boyce 1859. 03 Jan 1859. January 3. Took Simeon Solomon (age 18) to the Hogarth to see the works exhibited. Rossetti has a beautiful solemn purple drawing of Mary in the house of John. As Simeon said, "The impression of intense, thoughtful repose after the strife and excitement of the previous years is most im- pressive." R. also sent my little "Caper Nimbly" drawing, but has changed the subject into a "Borgia," and made the old grey-haired man into a Pope.

The Diary of George Price Boyce 1859. 30 Apr 1859. April 30. Found Simeon Solomon (age 18) and Poynter in Burges’ room and appropriated (by leave) a caricature by Simeon of Morris and his wife.

1860. Simeon Solomon (age 19). "The Mother of Moses". Model Fanny Entwhistle aka Eaton (age 24).

1862. Simeon Solomon (age 21). "Ruth and Boaz".

1863. Simeon Solomon (age 22). "The Deacon".

1864. Simeon Solomon (age 23). "A priestess of Diana offering Poppies".

The Diary of George Price Boyce 1864. 21 Nov 1864. November 21. Nelly Smith called. She was not looking well. Has been sitting to Simeon Solomon (age 24), Poynter, Stanhopé, Jones, Pinwell, and a man of the name of Linton? Sent 12 sketches and studies for Winter Exhibition at O.W.C. Gallery.

1865. Simeon Solomon (age 24). "Coptic Baptismal Procession".

1865. Simeon Solomon (age 24). "In the Temple of Venus".

1865. Simeon Solomon (age 24). "Habet". Model top right probably Fanny Eaton (age 29)".

1866. Frederick Hollyer (age 27). Photograph of Simeon Solomon (age 25).

1866. Simeon Solomon (age 25). "Damon and Aglae".

1868. Simeon Solomon (age 27). "Sappho and Erinna in a Garden at Mytilene".

1868. Simeon Solomon (age 27). "A Prelude by Bach".

The Diary of George Price Boyce 1868. 08 Nov 1868. November 8 (Sunday). Dined at Club, Simeon Solomon (age 28) there. He. introduced me to Mr. Oscar Browning. Billiards. Cooper said that there was a report that the young lady who threw herself off London Bridge a few days ago and was drowned, was no other than poor Ellen Terry (Mrs. G. F. Watts) and that it was after a quarrel with her sister about her continuing on the stage.9

Note 9. After the break-up of her marriage to G. F. Watts (age 51) in 1865, Ellen Terry (age 21) (1848-1928) had returned to the stage but in the spring of this year she threw up her engagement at the Queen’s Theatre, Long Acre, and disappeared. It was only after the incident of the body of a suicide case being mistakenly identified as hers that she informed her family that she was living in the country with E. W. Godwin. It was probably Sidney Cooper (1803-1902) the painter of sheep and cattle in landscape who repeated the story. Oscar Browning (1837-1923) was at this period an assistant master at Eton, notable both for his cultivated tastes and intellectual pursuits, and known to be a friend of Simeon Solomon.

1869. Simeon Solomon (age 28). "Pastoral Lovers".

1871. Simeon Solomon (age 30). "Rabbi Carrying the Law".

1873. Simeon Solomon (age 32). "Night".

1874. Simeon Solomon (age 33). "A Hebrew Girl".

1874. Simeon Solomon (age 33). "A Bishop of the Eastern Church".

In 1874 Simeon Solomon (age 33) was arrested in Paris [Map] and sentenced to three months in prison.

1880. Simeon Solomon (age 39). "Doubt".

In 1884 Simeon Solomon (age 43) was admitted to the St Gile's Workshouse, Bloomsbury [Map].

1884. Simeon Solomon (age 43). "The Annunciation".

Around 1888. Simeon Solomon (age 47). "Study of a Youth".

1892. Simeon Solomon (age 51). "Night and her Child Sleep".

1893. Simeon Solomon (age 52). "In the Summer Twilight".

1895. Simeon Solomon (age 54). "The Forsaken Ariadne".

1896. Simeon Solomon (age 55). "Mater Christi Alma".

1896. Simeon Solomon (age 55). "Orpheus".

1896. Frederick Hollyer (age 57). Photograph of Simeon Solomon (age 55).

1903. Simeon Solomon (age 62). "The Boy John".

Before 1905. Simeon Solomon (age 64). "Sleep Gentle Sleep".

Before 1905. Simeon Solomon (age 64). "The Knight of the Lord's Passion".

On 14 Aug 1905 Simeon Solomon (age 64) died in the dining-room of St Gile's Workshouse, Bloomsbury [Map] from complications brought on by alcoholism. He was buried at Willesden Cemetery.

"Inquest." The Times, 18 August 1905:

Mr. Walter Schroder held an inquest at St. Giles's Coroner's Court yesterday regarding the death of Simeon Solomon, aged 63, bachelor, an oil-painter, who was described as of the pre-Raphaelite school and at one time an associate of Rossetti and Burne-Jones. Solomon, according to his cousin, Mr. G. J. Nathan, of late years had led an intemperate and irregular life. The witness last saw him alive in May, when he gave him an outfit of clothes and money. He also gave him a commission for a drawing which was never executed. People highly placed in society would have liked him to paint pictures for them, but he could not be relied on to execute any commission. Other evidence showed that Solomon had been "off and on" an inmate of St. Giles's Workhouse during the past five years. On Wednesday, May 24 last, after the visit to his cousin, he was found lying on the footpath in Great Turnstile, High Holborn. He complained of illness and was conveyed to King's College Hospital, whence he was transferred to St. Giles's Workhouse. He was then suffering from bronchitis and alcoholism. He remained in the house, and on Monday morning last suddenly expired in the dining hall from, as Dr. A. C. Allen, the medical officer testified, heart failure consequent on aortic disease of that organ and other ailments. The jury returned a verdict accordingly. It was stated that a picture by the deceased recently sold at Christie's realised 250 guineas and that in former days several of his paintings were exhibited at the Royal Academy.

The Diary of George Price Boyce 1866. April 8 (Sunday). To Fred Leighton’s to breakfast, meeting there Gabriel and Wm. Rossetti and Simeon Solomon. L. excessively jolly and interesting. Has a large picture, young Greek girls in procession to sacrifice to Diana4 the first large picture he has painted.

Note 4. Syracusan Bride (Private Collection).