Abraham Solomon: Secondary Sources Full Text.
"Claudet's Portrait of the Duke of Wellington." The English Gentleman, 5 (1845): 76.
Claudet's Portrait of the Duke of Wellington-- The portrait of the Duke of Wellington was taken on his grace's birth-day, May 1, 1844, at the Adelaide Gallery, by the rapid process of M. Claudet's daguerreotype. The result of the mechanical process was afterwards placed in the hands of Mr. Solomon, an artist of rising reputation, who painted from it an enlarged portrait, something beyond miniature size. Both the daguerreotype portrait and the oil painting were then handed over, by Mr. J. Watson, of Vere-street, the owner of them, to Mr. Ryall, who engraved a plate from the two, which has just been published by Mr. Watson. The engraving has been principally made from the daguerreotype portrait, the work of Mr. Solomon being used to correct those defects which of necessity arise in all daguerreotype portraits. Mr. Ryall has produced surpassing in fidelity both the original daguerreotype and the painted copy; in short, a likeness so true to nature and so complete a translation of the features, character, and very look of the illustrious duke, that nothing but the reflection of the face of his grace in a mirror can surpass it. Without praising or finding fault with the very many portraits of the Duke of Wellington which from time to time have been produced, it will require little prophetic power to predict that this portrait will supersede them all. It is a simple result of the union of science with art, without affectation, pretence, the frippery of decoration, or the absurdities of costume. The family of the duke have expressed their unqualified approbation of it; and all persons of competent taste and judgement will do the same. As an engraving the execution is beautiful. The face is stippled. The back gound, &c,. is in the line manner.
(Printed in the The Times, Thursday, May 22, 1845; pg. 7; Issue 18930; col E)
"A Handsome and Appropriate Gift." The Jewish Chronicle, 11 April 1845: 79.
A Handsome and appropriate gift has just been received by the Jews’ and General Institution. It is an admirably finished portrait of Hananel De Castro, Esq., the indefatigable President of the institution, from the easel of Mr. Abraham Solomon, a young Jewish artist of great promise, who has taken prizes at the Royal Academy, and sent several successful pictures to its exhibitions. The portrait is the artist’s free gift, under circumstances which reflect much credit to the artist’s rising celebrity, and, as we doubt not, increase the number of his patrons. The likeness is striking, although it has not the every-day expression of a countenance familiarized to us by long-standing intimacy; for the artist has happily caught the “presiding” look, just as every friend of the institution will love to recognize it;- an agreeable memento. The other parts of the picture are beautifully executed, and we recommend our readers to go to Sussex Hall, and judge for themselves.
"Royal Academy Exhibition." The Jewish Chronicle, 19 June 1846: 152.
Mr Abraham Solomon has but a single painting (No. 670, The Breakfast Table), but it has been regarded as one of the gems of the room in which it is hung. It has been our grateful task to watch and record the rapid progress of this rising young artist, and we rejoice to hear on all sides that his powers, with due encouragement, are certain to secure him very high rank in the profession he has chosen. We hear, incidentally, that the picture was sold immediately, and that it has procured him fame and profit in other quarters also.
"Eighty-Fifth Exhibition of the Royal Academy." The Examiner, 26 May 1849.
Mr Solomon has a very clever picture of the domestic costumé school, in which Mr Frith and Mr Ward are our great masters at present, and which revels in the fantastic splendour of the times of Charles II, Anne, and George I. It represents the Spectator’s Academy for the discipline of the Fan. The master of this important art is worthy alike of his high vocation, and of the group of scholars the artist’s fancy has gathered around him. The magnificent and mature pupil in the central foreground, in her full-blown gorgeousness of flesh and brocade, has a dash of Hogarth about her; and there is a grace of the Wortley Montague school about the slender and stately figure who is entering and performing the salute with so much accuracy.
"Exhibition of the Royal Academy." The Morning Chronicle, 9 June 1853.
No. 470, “Bruntta and Phillis,” by A. Solomon.
“Phillis was draped in a brocade more gorgeous and costly than had ever before appeared. . . . Brunetta came in a plain black silk, attended by a negro girl in a petticoat of the same brocade with which Phillis was attired. This drew the attention of the whole company, upon which the unhappy Phillis swooned away” (vide Spectator, No. 80).—Mr Solomon has treated this subject with a great deal of humour. The triumphant air of Brunetta and the chuckling of the negro attendant are capitally expressed. The fainting rival and all the other figures are extremely well arranged and executed, together with every accessory. We have never seen a picture by Mr. Solomon which we liked better.
"Royal Academy." The Examiner, 11 June 1853.
We must not close this notice without a word of praise to the picture by Mr Solomon, taken from the ‘Spectator’, not a pre-Raphaelite, but full of accuracy of painting upon the subject of Brunetta and Phillis. Phillis came to a party in a gorgeous dress, “Brunetta came in a plain black silk, attended by a negro girl in a petticoat of the same brocade with which Phillis was attired. This drew the attention of the whole company, upon which the unhappy Phillis swooned away”. First remarking that we wish Mr Solomon—who has never painted any other subject than this or something very like it, since we first remember him—could manage to look a little farther afield, we must admit that his present scene is a reasonably good one of its kind. He has studied Hogarth to good purpose, and is able to display both skill and humour. Every figure in the piece is well imagined. Phillis in her swoon is, perhaps to a fault, much like one of Hogarth’s figures; and the polite company is capitally managed, with the due variety of character. There are, especially commendable among them, the figures of a pair of fops who take a foppish interest in a small-talk adventure of that nature; a high-bred aristocratic gentleman at the card-table, with a deaf partner; a Sir Leicester Dedlock of his day who looks coldly down out of his own world at the cause of the commotion; and a good-natured gentleman at his elbow, who is interpreter to the deaf lady, and who seems likely to suffer considerably next day from the exertion it has cost him to shout at her ear.
"Royal Academy." The Morning Chronicle, 10 June 1854.
No. 314, “First-class—the Meeting,” is a cleverly painted picture by Mr. A. Solomon, representing the interior of a “first-class” railway carriage, in which, while the young lady’s papa is asleep, overpowered by the best of “an old-fashioned summer’s day,” a youthful couple meet for the first time, “and at first meeting loved.” The accessories of every kind, down to the “Bradshaw” and the last shilling volume in bright green, are admirably given. Still more expressive is the companion work (No. 361), “Second-class—the Parting.” A very painful parting is this, and its deeply affecting influence is shown with no ordinary pathos. A widowed mother in circumstances probably somewhat “reduced” (as the hard but too expressive phrase is), is striving to cheer her boy-sailor as she accompanies him, in the “second-class” carriage, to the spot at which they very soon must part; the sister sits by in silent grief. In the adjoining compartment—such are the contrasting associations of the world—sit in happy conference a truly “jolly tar” and a no less truly “buxom damsel,” a very “Jack and Gill”. Here, also the accessories of the hammock, the bundles, the advertisements in the interior of the carriage, &c., may all be rated, like the advertised ships, as A 1. The grouping, the expression of the countenances (particularly that of the noble yet afflicted boy), the colour, and the lights and shades are all equally good, and all tell with equal effect upon the canvases.
"Royal Academy." Lloyds Weekly Newspaper, 27 May 1855.
“A Contrast” (355), by Mr. Solomon... is drawn between poverty with health on the one hand and sickly opulence on the other: two French girls, shrimpers, “blowzed with health”, are regarding with pity a fragile lady who, the object of sorrow and solicitude to her husband, is obliged to enjoy the sea breezes in a wheel-chair. At the distance from the eye at which the picture is hung it is impossible to distinguish the expressions, but none can doubt that they contain much subtle beauty, who remember Mr. Solomon painted the “Second-class” of last year.
"Royal Academy Exhibition." Illustrated London News, 10 May 1856.
Mr Solomon has chosen the explanatory motto for his picture of “A Contrast,” engraved in our present Number, in these words:--
Will Fortune never come with both hands full?
Such are the poor in health; such are the rich,
That have abundance and enjoy it not.
His picture forms No. 355 of the Middle Room of the present Royal Academy Exhibition, and, much to the discredit of the Hanging Committee, is hung, as we have already had occasion to observe) [sic] too much above the line of sight to be seen to ordinary advantage.
His motto very ill explains his picture. It is said, indeed, that he himself had considerable difficulty in determining what name he should give it, and it was not until the last moment that the present title was adopted. It would seem at first sight that a suitable name was a very easy matter. Look at the picture in our Engraving, and see (at first sight) if it is not. How admirably are the two stories told in this well-balanced picture—you see at once what the aim of the artist has been, and how completely he has carried it out. Here we have the pleasures of hope and the pleasure of health, and yet no one name that Mr. Solomon’s friend have selected for his adoption suits his picture. But art speaks all languages, and the spectator feels that he does not want words to tell him the story of Mr. Solomon’s single contribution to the Academy.
If Mr. Solomon failed in satisfying the Handing Committee of the Academy that his picture possessed merits that demanded a better recognition at their hands, he has not failed in satisfying Mr. Ruskin that his picture merited a better position on the walls of the Academy. “It is difficult,” writes Mr. Ruskin, “to see this picture, at the height at which it is placed; but it seems to me better than most of its class in the rooms; and the face of the invalid is very beautiful.”
Mr. Solomon is a young, conscientious, and promising painter, of whom England has every reason to be proud. He does not set about a picture as if he were undertaking an easy matter, a mere holiday task. It is easy to see that he is telling a story that he has weighed well, and that every part is the result of careful consideration harmoniously adjusting itself to the whole of the composition. He has looked on nature (there is no doubt of this) with a scrutinising eye; is too honest and painstaking to trust to a retentive memory; but places himself before the very things he is anxious to represent. The distant sea of the picture is exquisitely truthful, and the very breeze that passes over the foreground seems to be adding fresh colour to the cheeks of the beautiful invalid, who looks with hope at the healthy faces and active figures of the group of fish-girls that support the right of the composition. Here, in Mr. Solomon’s “Contrast,” is a picture that will stand the test of Mr. Christie’s hammer.
"Exhibition of the Royal Academy." Daily News, 21 May 1856.
Mr Solomon gives us two more "genteel" pictures. We feel sometimes before these inoffensive productions as we feel when in the company of some particularly refined but formal people of our acquaintance. We end by getting rather angry, partly at ourselves for want of taste, and partly at them for not being more frank, downright and natural. In "Doubtful Fortune" (533) we have three "angels" in flounces, engaged, one telling fortunes by cards, the other two listening. One knowingly remarks without winking (but we cannot answer for which from their faces), "We know we’re cheated, yet would fain believe". Our readers need not be told that one of these interesting creatures is dark, melancholy, and in love, and that she is contrasted by another—fair, gay, and bantering, and that these contrasts of brown and white are harmonised by a third—whitey-brown. The leafy sun-touched bower without, so gay and brilliant in spite of the passing cloud, which seems reflected in the dark girl’s face, is very pretty. "The Bride" (486)—necessarily a lovely one, as all brides are—is holding out her arm, which is encircled by a bracelet containing the portrait of the bridegroom, for her dressmaker to see, which, of course, draws forth exclamations it would make that gentleman very conceited to hear. There is a little touch of pensiveness in the poor girl’s face, which is also pretty; but Mr. Solomon paints so well we should like to see him engaged upon more noble themes.
"Exhibition of the Royal Academy." Daily News, 5 May 1857.
The picture with which we intend to close our present notice is "The Waiting for the Verdict," by Mr A. Solomon, a work admirable alike in design and execution. It represents a family waiting in the ante-room of the court for the decision which is to give them back husband, son, and brother, all in one, or blight their happiness for ever. The attitude of the old man stooping forward, the drooping head covered by the trembling hands, is full of feeling; the old mother, with her swollen eyes, heavy with tears, yet striving to smile at the infant she holds on her lap, whose little arms are stretched towards a woman who is crouched down in the front, and who, at a glance, you recognise as the wretched wife and mother, while a boy is quietly sleeping the "sleep of innocence," his head pillowed on her knees—all are touching and powerful. The grouping is natural and most skilfully managed—nothing is wanting, yet nothing is obtruded; you sympathise with the unhappy family, share for the moment their terrible suspense, and turn with eager eyes to the opening door, through which just a glimpse is caught of the judge upon whose lips their sentence hangs; it is a picture that not only possesses the merit of having a good subject, but the still greater merit of having that subject most effectively handled.
"Royal Academy." Daily News, 6 May 1858.
Mr. Solomon’s principal performance, "The Lion in Love" (54), tempts us to repeat Mr. Ruskin’s famous tirade on Millais, for verily here is "not merely fall, but catastrophe". The extraordinary and unsuspected power displayed by this artist when he had to grapple with the seriousness of his "Waiting for the Verdict" induced a general belief that Mr. Solomon would become one of our most distinguished painters. But alas! What a falling off is here, due partly, perhaps, to the critics, who would turn artists into little better than man-milliners of Daguerreo-typists, and partly to the fact that that find Crabbe-like picture has remained, we believe, on the artist’s hands till within a few weeks, while the present was sold before exhibition, and will be engraved immediately after. This "Lion" is a grey old general, with dyed moustache, who, smitten with the ruddy charms of a sprightly young lady, like Hercules in the toils of Omphale, is vainly essaying with much caricatured energy to thread her needle, while she sits roguishly laughing at his awkwardness. The mere painting is equally a retrogression with the subject. But with an utterly worthless theme, we would as soon, nay rather, have doggerel than the most polished verification...
Mr. Solomon’s sister, Miss A. [sic] Solomon, has, however, this year evinced far more invention than her brother in "Behind the Curtain" (1,094), in which real domestic misery presents an affecting contrast to the tragic woes the poor strolling players are about to assume. There is also a pre-Raphaelite attempt to depict the "Sacrifice of Abraham" (1,006), by a very young brother of Mr. Solomon.
"The Late Mr Abraham Solomon." The Ladies Companion and Monthly Magazine, XXIII Second Series (1863): 105.
The late Mr Abraham Solomon.—This highly-gifted artist has been taken from us suddenly, in the height of his popularity, and at the early age of 38, before he was rewarded with even the first Academical honour, which he would most assuredly have soon gained had his life been spared, and to which many considered him to have been long entitled; but when he left us in the autumn of last year for the South of France, it was to be feared that he was suffering from some internal malady, which rendered repose absolutely necessary. He repaired to Biarritz, and thence reports from time to time gave his friends hope that he was slowly, if not speedily, recovering; but shortly before Christmas his relatives were alarmed by bad news. On going over to see him they found him so much better that they fancied they could return with confidence; hardly had they done so, however, when they received by telegram the melancholy intelligence of his death, which arose from congestion of the lungs. He leaves a widow, but no children. In the social circle poor Mr. Solomon will be missed by all who knew him; it would be difficult to meet with a man who was more universally esteemed, we might say loved. Of his kindness of heart and thoroughly amiable disposition the writer has reason to remember many instances. There are many junior artists who will not easily forget his friendly advice and assistance in their labours; whilst the public, who were well acquainted with his works—"Waiting for the Verdict", with its companion, "Not Guilty"; "First and Second Class"; and his last exhibited picture, "The Lost Found", may be mentioned as amongst the most important—will be grieved at the announcement that their favourite will paint no more.--
T.F.D.C.
Claudet's Portrait of the Duke of Wellington-- The portrait of the Duke of Wellington was taken on his grace's birth-day, May 1, 1844, at the Adelaide Gallery, by the rapid process of M. Claudet's daguerreotype. The result of the mechanical process was afterwards placed in the hands of Mr. Solomon, an artist of rising reputation, who painted from it an enlarged portrait, something beyond miniature size. Both the daguerreotype portrait and the oil painting were then handed over, by Mr. J. Watson, of Vere-street, the owner of them, to Mr. Ryall, who engraved a plate from the two, which has just been published by Mr. Watson. The engraving has been principally made from the daguerreotype portrait, the work of Mr. Solomon being used to correct those defects which of necessity arise in all daguerreotype portraits. Mr. Ryall has produced surpassing in fidelity both the original daguerreotype and the painted copy; in short, a likeness so true to nature and so complete a translation of the features, character, and very look of the illustrious duke, that nothing but the reflection of the face of his grace in a mirror can surpass it. Without praising or finding fault with the very many portraits of the Duke of Wellington which from time to time have been produced, it will require little prophetic power to predict that this portrait will supersede them all. It is a simple result of the union of science with art, without affectation, pretence, the frippery of decoration, or the absurdities of costume. The family of the duke have expressed their unqualified approbation of it; and all persons of competent taste and judgement will do the same. As an engraving the execution is beautiful. The face is stippled. The back gound, &c,. is in the line manner.
(Printed in the The Times, Thursday, May 22, 1845; pg. 7; Issue 18930; col E)
"A Handsome and Appropriate Gift." The Jewish Chronicle, 11 April 1845: 79.
A Handsome and appropriate gift has just been received by the Jews’ and General Institution. It is an admirably finished portrait of Hananel De Castro, Esq., the indefatigable President of the institution, from the easel of Mr. Abraham Solomon, a young Jewish artist of great promise, who has taken prizes at the Royal Academy, and sent several successful pictures to its exhibitions. The portrait is the artist’s free gift, under circumstances which reflect much credit to the artist’s rising celebrity, and, as we doubt not, increase the number of his patrons. The likeness is striking, although it has not the every-day expression of a countenance familiarized to us by long-standing intimacy; for the artist has happily caught the “presiding” look, just as every friend of the institution will love to recognize it;- an agreeable memento. The other parts of the picture are beautifully executed, and we recommend our readers to go to Sussex Hall, and judge for themselves.
"Royal Academy Exhibition." The Jewish Chronicle, 19 June 1846: 152.
Mr Abraham Solomon has but a single painting (No. 670, The Breakfast Table), but it has been regarded as one of the gems of the room in which it is hung. It has been our grateful task to watch and record the rapid progress of this rising young artist, and we rejoice to hear on all sides that his powers, with due encouragement, are certain to secure him very high rank in the profession he has chosen. We hear, incidentally, that the picture was sold immediately, and that it has procured him fame and profit in other quarters also.
"Eighty-Fifth Exhibition of the Royal Academy." The Examiner, 26 May 1849.
Mr Solomon has a very clever picture of the domestic costumé school, in which Mr Frith and Mr Ward are our great masters at present, and which revels in the fantastic splendour of the times of Charles II, Anne, and George I. It represents the Spectator’s Academy for the discipline of the Fan. The master of this important art is worthy alike of his high vocation, and of the group of scholars the artist’s fancy has gathered around him. The magnificent and mature pupil in the central foreground, in her full-blown gorgeousness of flesh and brocade, has a dash of Hogarth about her; and there is a grace of the Wortley Montague school about the slender and stately figure who is entering and performing the salute with so much accuracy.
"Exhibition of the Royal Academy." The Morning Chronicle, 9 June 1853.
No. 470, “Bruntta and Phillis,” by A. Solomon.
“Phillis was draped in a brocade more gorgeous and costly than had ever before appeared. . . . Brunetta came in a plain black silk, attended by a negro girl in a petticoat of the same brocade with which Phillis was attired. This drew the attention of the whole company, upon which the unhappy Phillis swooned away” (vide Spectator, No. 80).—Mr Solomon has treated this subject with a great deal of humour. The triumphant air of Brunetta and the chuckling of the negro attendant are capitally expressed. The fainting rival and all the other figures are extremely well arranged and executed, together with every accessory. We have never seen a picture by Mr. Solomon which we liked better.
"Royal Academy." The Examiner, 11 June 1853.
We must not close this notice without a word of praise to the picture by Mr Solomon, taken from the ‘Spectator’, not a pre-Raphaelite, but full of accuracy of painting upon the subject of Brunetta and Phillis. Phillis came to a party in a gorgeous dress, “Brunetta came in a plain black silk, attended by a negro girl in a petticoat of the same brocade with which Phillis was attired. This drew the attention of the whole company, upon which the unhappy Phillis swooned away”. First remarking that we wish Mr Solomon—who has never painted any other subject than this or something very like it, since we first remember him—could manage to look a little farther afield, we must admit that his present scene is a reasonably good one of its kind. He has studied Hogarth to good purpose, and is able to display both skill and humour. Every figure in the piece is well imagined. Phillis in her swoon is, perhaps to a fault, much like one of Hogarth’s figures; and the polite company is capitally managed, with the due variety of character. There are, especially commendable among them, the figures of a pair of fops who take a foppish interest in a small-talk adventure of that nature; a high-bred aristocratic gentleman at the card-table, with a deaf partner; a Sir Leicester Dedlock of his day who looks coldly down out of his own world at the cause of the commotion; and a good-natured gentleman at his elbow, who is interpreter to the deaf lady, and who seems likely to suffer considerably next day from the exertion it has cost him to shout at her ear.
"Royal Academy." The Morning Chronicle, 10 June 1854.
No. 314, “First-class—the Meeting,” is a cleverly painted picture by Mr. A. Solomon, representing the interior of a “first-class” railway carriage, in which, while the young lady’s papa is asleep, overpowered by the best of “an old-fashioned summer’s day,” a youthful couple meet for the first time, “and at first meeting loved.” The accessories of every kind, down to the “Bradshaw” and the last shilling volume in bright green, are admirably given. Still more expressive is the companion work (No. 361), “Second-class—the Parting.” A very painful parting is this, and its deeply affecting influence is shown with no ordinary pathos. A widowed mother in circumstances probably somewhat “reduced” (as the hard but too expressive phrase is), is striving to cheer her boy-sailor as she accompanies him, in the “second-class” carriage, to the spot at which they very soon must part; the sister sits by in silent grief. In the adjoining compartment—such are the contrasting associations of the world—sit in happy conference a truly “jolly tar” and a no less truly “buxom damsel,” a very “Jack and Gill”. Here, also the accessories of the hammock, the bundles, the advertisements in the interior of the carriage, &c., may all be rated, like the advertised ships, as A 1. The grouping, the expression of the countenances (particularly that of the noble yet afflicted boy), the colour, and the lights and shades are all equally good, and all tell with equal effect upon the canvases.
"Royal Academy." Lloyds Weekly Newspaper, 27 May 1855.
“A Contrast” (355), by Mr. Solomon... is drawn between poverty with health on the one hand and sickly opulence on the other: two French girls, shrimpers, “blowzed with health”, are regarding with pity a fragile lady who, the object of sorrow and solicitude to her husband, is obliged to enjoy the sea breezes in a wheel-chair. At the distance from the eye at which the picture is hung it is impossible to distinguish the expressions, but none can doubt that they contain much subtle beauty, who remember Mr. Solomon painted the “Second-class” of last year.
"Royal Academy Exhibition." Illustrated London News, 10 May 1856.
Mr Solomon has chosen the explanatory motto for his picture of “A Contrast,” engraved in our present Number, in these words:--
Will Fortune never come with both hands full?
Such are the poor in health; such are the rich,
That have abundance and enjoy it not.
His picture forms No. 355 of the Middle Room of the present Royal Academy Exhibition, and, much to the discredit of the Hanging Committee, is hung, as we have already had occasion to observe) [sic] too much above the line of sight to be seen to ordinary advantage.
His motto very ill explains his picture. It is said, indeed, that he himself had considerable difficulty in determining what name he should give it, and it was not until the last moment that the present title was adopted. It would seem at first sight that a suitable name was a very easy matter. Look at the picture in our Engraving, and see (at first sight) if it is not. How admirably are the two stories told in this well-balanced picture—you see at once what the aim of the artist has been, and how completely he has carried it out. Here we have the pleasures of hope and the pleasure of health, and yet no one name that Mr. Solomon’s friend have selected for his adoption suits his picture. But art speaks all languages, and the spectator feels that he does not want words to tell him the story of Mr. Solomon’s single contribution to the Academy.
If Mr. Solomon failed in satisfying the Handing Committee of the Academy that his picture possessed merits that demanded a better recognition at their hands, he has not failed in satisfying Mr. Ruskin that his picture merited a better position on the walls of the Academy. “It is difficult,” writes Mr. Ruskin, “to see this picture, at the height at which it is placed; but it seems to me better than most of its class in the rooms; and the face of the invalid is very beautiful.”
Mr. Solomon is a young, conscientious, and promising painter, of whom England has every reason to be proud. He does not set about a picture as if he were undertaking an easy matter, a mere holiday task. It is easy to see that he is telling a story that he has weighed well, and that every part is the result of careful consideration harmoniously adjusting itself to the whole of the composition. He has looked on nature (there is no doubt of this) with a scrutinising eye; is too honest and painstaking to trust to a retentive memory; but places himself before the very things he is anxious to represent. The distant sea of the picture is exquisitely truthful, and the very breeze that passes over the foreground seems to be adding fresh colour to the cheeks of the beautiful invalid, who looks with hope at the healthy faces and active figures of the group of fish-girls that support the right of the composition. Here, in Mr. Solomon’s “Contrast,” is a picture that will stand the test of Mr. Christie’s hammer.
"Exhibition of the Royal Academy." Daily News, 21 May 1856.
Mr Solomon gives us two more "genteel" pictures. We feel sometimes before these inoffensive productions as we feel when in the company of some particularly refined but formal people of our acquaintance. We end by getting rather angry, partly at ourselves for want of taste, and partly at them for not being more frank, downright and natural. In "Doubtful Fortune" (533) we have three "angels" in flounces, engaged, one telling fortunes by cards, the other two listening. One knowingly remarks without winking (but we cannot answer for which from their faces), "We know we’re cheated, yet would fain believe". Our readers need not be told that one of these interesting creatures is dark, melancholy, and in love, and that she is contrasted by another—fair, gay, and bantering, and that these contrasts of brown and white are harmonised by a third—whitey-brown. The leafy sun-touched bower without, so gay and brilliant in spite of the passing cloud, which seems reflected in the dark girl’s face, is very pretty. "The Bride" (486)—necessarily a lovely one, as all brides are—is holding out her arm, which is encircled by a bracelet containing the portrait of the bridegroom, for her dressmaker to see, which, of course, draws forth exclamations it would make that gentleman very conceited to hear. There is a little touch of pensiveness in the poor girl’s face, which is also pretty; but Mr. Solomon paints so well we should like to see him engaged upon more noble themes.
"Exhibition of the Royal Academy." Daily News, 5 May 1857.
The picture with which we intend to close our present notice is "The Waiting for the Verdict," by Mr A. Solomon, a work admirable alike in design and execution. It represents a family waiting in the ante-room of the court for the decision which is to give them back husband, son, and brother, all in one, or blight their happiness for ever. The attitude of the old man stooping forward, the drooping head covered by the trembling hands, is full of feeling; the old mother, with her swollen eyes, heavy with tears, yet striving to smile at the infant she holds on her lap, whose little arms are stretched towards a woman who is crouched down in the front, and who, at a glance, you recognise as the wretched wife and mother, while a boy is quietly sleeping the "sleep of innocence," his head pillowed on her knees—all are touching and powerful. The grouping is natural and most skilfully managed—nothing is wanting, yet nothing is obtruded; you sympathise with the unhappy family, share for the moment their terrible suspense, and turn with eager eyes to the opening door, through which just a glimpse is caught of the judge upon whose lips their sentence hangs; it is a picture that not only possesses the merit of having a good subject, but the still greater merit of having that subject most effectively handled.
"Royal Academy." Daily News, 6 May 1858.
Mr. Solomon’s principal performance, "The Lion in Love" (54), tempts us to repeat Mr. Ruskin’s famous tirade on Millais, for verily here is "not merely fall, but catastrophe". The extraordinary and unsuspected power displayed by this artist when he had to grapple with the seriousness of his "Waiting for the Verdict" induced a general belief that Mr. Solomon would become one of our most distinguished painters. But alas! What a falling off is here, due partly, perhaps, to the critics, who would turn artists into little better than man-milliners of Daguerreo-typists, and partly to the fact that that find Crabbe-like picture has remained, we believe, on the artist’s hands till within a few weeks, while the present was sold before exhibition, and will be engraved immediately after. This "Lion" is a grey old general, with dyed moustache, who, smitten with the ruddy charms of a sprightly young lady, like Hercules in the toils of Omphale, is vainly essaying with much caricatured energy to thread her needle, while she sits roguishly laughing at his awkwardness. The mere painting is equally a retrogression with the subject. But with an utterly worthless theme, we would as soon, nay rather, have doggerel than the most polished verification...
Mr. Solomon’s sister, Miss A. [sic] Solomon, has, however, this year evinced far more invention than her brother in "Behind the Curtain" (1,094), in which real domestic misery presents an affecting contrast to the tragic woes the poor strolling players are about to assume. There is also a pre-Raphaelite attempt to depict the "Sacrifice of Abraham" (1,006), by a very young brother of Mr. Solomon.
"The Late Mr Abraham Solomon." The Ladies Companion and Monthly Magazine, XXIII Second Series (1863): 105.
The late Mr Abraham Solomon.—This highly-gifted artist has been taken from us suddenly, in the height of his popularity, and at the early age of 38, before he was rewarded with even the first Academical honour, which he would most assuredly have soon gained had his life been spared, and to which many considered him to have been long entitled; but when he left us in the autumn of last year for the South of France, it was to be feared that he was suffering from some internal malady, which rendered repose absolutely necessary. He repaired to Biarritz, and thence reports from time to time gave his friends hope that he was slowly, if not speedily, recovering; but shortly before Christmas his relatives were alarmed by bad news. On going over to see him they found him so much better that they fancied they could return with confidence; hardly had they done so, however, when they received by telegram the melancholy intelligence of his death, which arose from congestion of the lungs. He leaves a widow, but no children. In the social circle poor Mr. Solomon will be missed by all who knew him; it would be difficult to meet with a man who was more universally esteemed, we might say loved. Of his kindness of heart and thoroughly amiable disposition the writer has reason to remember many instances. There are many junior artists who will not easily forget his friendly advice and assistance in their labours; whilst the public, who were well acquainted with his works—"Waiting for the Verdict", with its companion, "Not Guilty"; "First and Second Class"; and his last exhibited picture, "The Lost Found", may be mentioned as amongst the most important—will be grieved at the announcement that their favourite will paint no more.--
T.F.D.C.