TRUTH TO (HIS) NATURE: JUDAISM IN THE ART OF SIMEON SOLOMON

Abstract

Simeon Solomon was a Pre-Raphaelite artist who navigated the modernity of Victorian
England to create works revolving around explicitly Jewish themes; often creating overtly Jewish images, highly unusual among the generally explicitly Christian movement. This article will deal with how Solomon constructed and dealt with his own identity as a Gay, Jewish man in the modern, and heavily Christian environment of mid-nineteenth century Victorian London. Using contemporary approaches to historicism, observation, and spirituality, his works deal with the complexities of his identity as Jewish and homosexual in a manner where neither was shameful, but rather, sources of inspiration.