―HE HATH MINGLED WITH THE UNGODLY‖: THE LIFE OF SIMEON SOLOMON AFTER 1873, WITH A SURVEY OF THE EXTANT WORKS CAROLYN CONROY TWO VOLUMES VOLUME I PH.D. THE UNIVERSITY OF YORK HISTORY OF ART DECEMBER 2009 2 ABSTRACT This thesis focuses on the life and work of the marginalized British Pre-Raphaelite and Aesthetic homosexual Jewish painter Simeon Solomon (1840-1905) after 1873.This year was fundamental in the artist‘s professional and personal life, because it is the year that he was arrested for attempted sodomy charges in London. The popular view that has been disseminated by the early historiography of Solomon, since before and after his death in 1905, has been to claim that, after this date, the artist led a life that was worthless, both personally and artistically. It has also asserted that this situation was self-inflicted, and that, despite the consistent efforts of his family and friends to return him to the conventions of Victorian middle-class life, he resisted, and that, this resistant was evidence of his ‗deviancy‘. Indeed, for over sixty years, the overall effect of this early historiography has been to defame the character of Solomon and reduce his importance within the Aesthetic movement and the second wave of Pre-Raphaelitism. It has also had the effect of relegating the work that he produced after 1873 to either virtual obscurity or critical censure. In fact, it is only recently that a revival of interest in the artist has gained momentum, although the latter part of his life from 1873 has still remained under- researched and unrecorded. Therefore, the function of this thesis is to re-evaluate Solomon‘s life after his arrest in 1873 and reveal what actually happened to the artist during the final thirty-three years of his life. It does this primarily through a unique study and examination of newly identified archival documents and information. By examining, in particular, the original nineteenth- century records that relate to his arrest in London, and those that record a virtually unknown arrest in Paris in 1874, and putting this in the context of nineteenth-century sodomy law and male homosexual society, it is possible to re-consider Solomon‘s previously misunderstood resistance to sexual and societal rehabilitation. It makes use of a new critical understanding, which now suggests the non-repentance of the previously seen tragic figure of the homosexual male in Victorian society, which was promoted in part by the Oscar Wilde trials of 1895. The study of the detail of Solomon‘s later life within this thesis will support these new ideas by promoting the suggestion of the artist as self- consciously queer and unapologetic. In addition, this thesis includes, for the first time, a survey of Solomon‘s works produced after 1873, which help to provide an approximation of how active Solomon was artistically; suggest what kind of media he was using during certain periods; record who was continuing to buy Solomon‘s work at this time, and to make the images of Solomon‘s extant work available to future researchers. These extant images appear in Volume II of this thesis. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Volume I Abstract 02 List of Illustrations 04 Acknowledgements 23 Introduction 24 I 1873: The London Arrest, the Question of the Asylum, and Gossip 52 II 1873: Solomon‘s Whereabouts and the Trip to Devon 87 III 1874 – 1878: The Arrest in Paris, Cleopatra‟s Needle, (1877), Hollyer, and Hardship 105 IV 1879 – 1883: First Admission to the Workhouse, Dalziel Brothers‘ Bible Gallery (1881), and the Burglary 136 V 1884 – 1887: The Workhouse, Sins of the Cities of the Plain (1881), and Count Stenbock 164 VI 1888 – 1896: Johnson, Horne and Hollyer 197 VII 1897 – 1905: The Casual Ward and Death 231 Postscript 245 Conclusion 250 Appendix 1: Work in Exhibitions Post-1873 253 Appendix II: Work by Solomon Post-1873 without Images 262 Appendix III: Solomon Prints by Frederick Hollyer 267 Bibliography: i. Primary Sources: Unpublished 268 ii. Primary Sources: Published 270 iii. Secondary Sources. 285 Volume II Illustrations 4 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1. Simeon Solomon, 1873, from a letter to Mrs Tong dated 30 January 1873, University of Rochester, Manuscript Collection. 2. David Wilkie Wynfield, Simeon Solomon in Fancy Dress, circa 1870, Photograph, Royal Academy, London. 3. Simeon Solomon, A Jewish King and his Page (The Acolyte), 1873, Dublin City Art Gallery, watercolour, 216x216mm. (www.hughlane.ie). 4. Simeon Solomon, Greeks Going to a Festival, 1873, Dublin City Art Gallery, watercolour, 216x216mm. (www.hughlane.ie). 5. Simeon Solomon, The Bride, 1873, Dublin City Art Gallery, watercolour, 381x168mm. (www.hughlane.ie). 6. Simeon Solomon, The Bridegroom, 1872, Dublin City Art Gallery, watercolour, 381x168mm. (www.hughlane.ie). 7. Simeon Solomon, The Voice of my Beloved that Knocketh, 1873, Location Unknown, watercolour, 497x343mm. (Reynolds, 1985, Pl 66). 8. Simeon Solomon, Allegorical Self Portrait, 1873, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, watercolour, gouache and gum Arabic over red chalk, heavy watercolour paper, 355x227mm. (www.artsmia.org). 9. Simeon Solomon, Night, 1873, Priv Coll, drawing on paper, 298x445mm. (www.leicestergalleries.com). 10. Simeon Solomon, Study, Female Figure, 1873, City of Manchester Art Galleries, watercolour and oil on paper, 250x151mm. (www.manchestergalleries.org). 11. Simeon Solomon, Study of a Woman with Red Hair, 1873, Priv Coll, watercolour/paper, 170x170mm. (www.bloomsburyauctions.com). 12. Six-Place Urinal, Place de le Bourse, Paris, about 1875-78. (Sibalis, 1999, p20). 13. Simeon Solomon, King Solomon, 1874, The National Gallery, Washington, egg tempera on paper mounted on board, 495x295mm. (www.nga.gov). 14. Simeon Solomon, A Bishop of the Eastern Church, 1874, private collection, watercolour and bodycolour on paper, 305x220mm. (Cruise, 2005, p138). 15. Simeon Solomon, Pomona, 1874, Barry Friedman Ltd, New York, drawing, 445x305mm. (Reynolds, 1985, Pl 67). 16. Frederick Hollyer after Simeon Solomon, Love Confronted by Death, 1874, Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery, platinotype, 232x357mm. (Cruise, 2005, p174). 5 17. Frederick Hollyer after Simeon Solomon, Until the Day Break and the Shadows Flee Away, 1874, Birmingham Museums and Art Galleries, platinotype print, 325x253mm. (www.preraphaelites.org). 18. Simeon Solomon, Until the Day Break and the Shadows Flee Away, 1869, British Museum, Graphite and black chalk, with bodycolour and red chalk, 129x154mm. (www.britishmuseum.org). 19. Simeon Solomon, Aaron with the Scroll of Law, 1875, Southampton City Art Gallery, oil on canvas, 290x140mm. (Cruise, 2005, p140). 20. Simeon Solomon, David Mourning Absalom, 1875, Private Collection, 241x114mm. (Werner, 1966, p50). 21. Simeon Solomon, Seven Cherubs Dancing, 1875, The Jewish Museum, red chalk, size unknown. (Burman, 2001, p48). 22. Frederick Hollyer after Simeon Solomon, Spartan Boys about to be Scourged at the Altar of Diana, 1865, Priv Coll, platinotype, dimensions unknown. (Reynolds, 1985, Pl. 40). 23. Simeon Solomon, Amor, 1877, Priv Coll, black chalk, 229x178mm. (Sotheby‘s, 1996a, p186). 24. Frederick Hollyer after Simeon Solomon, Consecration of the King from the Song of Songs, 1878, Jewish Museum, London, platinotype, 278x184mm. (www. jewishmuseum.org.uk), 25. Frederick Hollyer after Simeon Solomon, Captivity of the Bride from the Song of Songs, 1878, Jewish Museum, London, platinotype, 278x184mm. (www.jewishmuseum.org.uk). 26. Frederick Hollyer after Simeon Solomon, The Calling of the Bride from the Song of Songs, 1878, Jewish Museum, London, platinotype, 278x184mm. (www.jewishmuseum.org.uk) 27. Frederick Hollyer after Simeon Solomon, The Invitation of the Bride from the Song of Songs, 1878, Jewish Museum, London, platinotype, 278x184mm. (www.jewishmuseum.org.uk), 28. Frederick Hollyer after Simeon Solomon, Desire of the Bride from the Song of Songs, 1878, Jewish Museum, London, platinotype, 278x184mm. (www.jewishmuseum.org.uk). 29. Frederick Hollyer after Simeon Solomon, The Nuptials of the King from the Song of Songs, 1878, Jewish Museum, London, platinotype, 278x184mm. (www.jewishmuseum.org.uk). 30. Frederick Hollyer after Simeon Solomon, The Night of the Nuptials from the Song of Songs, 1878, Jewish Museum, London, platinotype, 278x184mm. (www.jewishmuseum.org.uk). 6 31. Frederick Hollyer after Simeon Solomon, The Blessing from the Song of Songs, 1878, Jewish Museum, London, platinotype, 278x184mm. (www.jewishmuseum.org.uk). 32. Simeon Solomon, The Magic Crystal, 1878, City of Manchester Art Galleries, oil on paper, 320x181mm. (www.manchestergalleries.org). 33. Frederick Hollyer, The Book of Ruth, 1879, Jewish Museum, London, six prints with illustrated cover by Simeon Solomon, 278x184mm. (www.jewishmuseum.org.uk). 34. Frederick Hollyer, The Book of Ruth – Then Said Boaz, 1879, Jewish Museum, London, platinotype, after drawing by Simeon Solomon, 278x184mm. (www.jewishmuseum.org.uk). 35. Frederick Hollyer after Simeon Solomon, Call me not Naomi from The Book of Ruth, 1879, Jewish Museum, London, platinotype, 278x184mm. (www.jewishmuseum.org.uk). 36. Frederick Hollyer, The Book of Ruth – But Ruth Clave onto her, 1879, Jewish Museum, London, platinotype, after drawing by Simeon Solomon, 278x184mm. (www.jewishmuseum.org.uk). 37. Frederick Hollyer, The Book of Ruth – So Boaz Took Ruth, 1879, Jewish Museum, London, platinotype, after drawing by Simeon Solomon, 278x184mm. (www.jewishmuseum.org.uk). 38. Frederick Hollyer, The Book of Ruth – And Naomi took the Child, 1879, Jewish Museum, London, platinotype,