256 - SIMEON SOLOMON (BRITISH 1840-1905)SOMNUS; AMOR, VOLUPTAS; AND MORSColoured chalks over pencil, four sheets framed as oneEach inscribed with their titles (to the lower draperies)Overall 74 x 152.5cm (29 x 60in.), each individually 51 x 29.5cm (20 x 11½in.)In the original frameProvenance:Mrs Abrahams and by bequest to the mother of the presentowner.Simeon Solomon was the last of eight children born into anaffluent, artistically inclined middle-class Jewish family. His father was aprosperous hat importer, his mother Kate Levy Solomon an amateur artist whopainted miniatures. Other members of the family were professional artists, hisbrother Abraham (1823-1862) was famous for social commentary genre scenes) andhis sister Rebecca (1832-1886) a successful female artist who exhibitedfrequently.After initial study at Cary’s Art School, Solomon enteredthe Royal Academy Schools in 1856, exhibiting there for the first time in 1858.By 1859 Solomon had met Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882) and EdwardBurne-Jones (1833-1898) and formed close ties with the Pre-Raphaelites and byextension others in their circle such as the writer Algernon Swinburne(1837-1909), the essayist and art critic Walter Pater (1839-1894) and historianand educationalist Oscar Browning (1837-1923), with whom he travelled to Romein 1867. These men were noted aesthetes and through their influence Solomon wasreceived into likeminded ascetic and homosexual circles.In 1871 Solomon penned his own prose poem – A Vision ofLove Revealed in Sleep, privately printed with a dedication to Burne-Jones.In this dreamlike narrative the artist engages in sporadic conversations withhis Soul and encounters personified emotions including Love, Hope and Despairof which he made allegorical drawings.The defining moment in Solomon’s personal and professionallife occurred in February of 1873, Solomon was arrested in a public lavatory inLondon with a stable hand called George Roberts and charged with indecentexposure and ‘attempting to commit sodomy’. He was found guilty, fined £100 andsentenced to six weeks in the Clerkenwell House of Correction: his publicreputation was ruined, and it resulted in a downwards spiral of hisprofessional and personal life.After 1872 we see a stylistic change in his work, painting mainlyheads, sometimes a single head or the compositional device of placing two headson either side of the pictorial plane, a format which offered considerablecompositional and thematic possibilities. His subject matter was oftenallegorical depictions of abstract concepts or personifications of emotions, thethemes explored in Solomon’s 1871 poem, alongside drawings of Night, Sleep,Death, which often reflected his inner turmoil and personal thoughts on elicitlove.Followinghis public shaming Solomon found difficulty selling his work. He continued toexhibited in provincial galleries such as Liverpool, Manchester, and Birminghamand occasionally in London and there were periods of chronic poverty,alcoholism and in and out of St. Giles Workhouse in London. Solomon becameincreasing dependent on alcohol and died in the workhouse on 14 August 1905,aged 65.The present set of four drawings date from circa 1880 and thecherubic putti are the embodiment of some of his favourite motifs, Sleep, Love,Desire and Death. Stylistically the drawings are similar to the unpublished illustrationsSolomon executed for the nursery rhyme,1, 2, Buckle My Shoe, (Princeton University Library's children'sbook collection). Although treated by society as an outcast Solomon was though still supported by family and somefriends, and the present work may be an example of this having descendedthrough the Abraham family, who were relatives of the Solomons.The four putti each embody a fundamental facet of the human condition: Desire, Sleep, Death, and Pleasure and Solomon has bestowed them with classical attributes. Amor (Desire) grips a bow intertwined with myrtle, a plant sacred to his mother Venus, the arrow is pointed toward his own midsection, symbolizing the profound, self-inflicted vulnerability of desire. Somnus (Sleep) is distinguished by two large wings sprouting from his brow which differentiates him from Cupid and symbolizes how sleep silently sweeps down upon the human mind. Across his chest, he holds a stalk of poppies evoking dreams, sedation, and the narcotic ease of slumber. Mors (Death) is personified as a solemn, draped, angelic putti. This treatment mirrors the ancient concept of Death as the twin brother of Sleep. He holds a downward-pointing trumpet toward the earth, representing the final summons. To his side, a shrouded funerary amphora stands which signifies mortality and the physical remains left behind, the hand placed over the vase holds a dried sprig, serving as a poignant reminder of the short span of human life and the withered nature of the flesh. Voluptas (Pleasure) carries a basket overflowing with flowers and roses, representing the flowering of passion. The flo