The Arrest of the Deserter

British artist Rebecca Solomon painted works based on seventeenth- and eighteenth-century dramas as well as contemporary genre scenes that often touched on issues of class, ethnicity, and gender. As a woman, Solomon was unable to study at the Royal Academy (unlike her brothers Abraham and Simeon), but she trained elsewhere and regularly exhibited her work at the Academy starting in 1858. While Solomon secured important private commissions and was well regarded by critics, she had to supplement her income by working as an artist’s assistant and making illustrations for magazines.