Abstract
This is the first study to be devoted exclusively to the paintings of Abraham Solomon
(1824-1862) whose art is thought to have appealed, and continues to appeal only to a
popular, unsophisticated, taste for sentimental, narrative, art.
Solomon’s art was secular, Realist, and humanist; he combined narrative with
mimetic skill and the aestheticisation of everyday life and objects. His paintings were multilayered and often political. He was an early proponent of Realism in British art who used
topical references to reflect a shared experience with his viewers. These topicalities are the
main subject of this study and contribute to an understanding of contemporary viewings of
his art as a richer source of imagery and ideas than has hitherto been the case. Solomon used
deep depth of field and precise observation, in the Pre-Raphaelite manner, to create an
unwavering democratic evenness of vision so that the way he painted and what he painted
coalesced to reflect and define his vision of 1850s Britain.
Solomon was an observant Jew, but it is his vision of a moral world, independent of
religious belief, which stands out. He sought assimilation, but he was defined and
marginalised by others. His sister Rebecca temporarily disappeared in the “great forgetting”
of women artists, his younger brother Simeon was shunned because of his sexuality, and
Abraham’s fate was to be labelled vulgar because of his popular appeal.
This study is based on original research at the British Library, the National Art
Library, the Bodleian Library, the London Archives, and the National Archives. Sources
have included online collections of newspapers and journals such as the Times, the ArtReview, and the Spectator including census records and street directories. I have purchased
original paintings, engravings, drawings, and letters from London galleries,
Parisian bouquinistes, autograph dealers worldwide; these are reproduced here.
