Creator Bio

Solomon Alexander Hart

1806–1881

The British painter Solomon Alexander Hart entered the Royal Academy of Arts in 1823 and was elected the first Jewish member of the academy in 1840. He was known for painting Jewish subjects, including Interior of a Polish Synagogue at the Moment When the Manuscript of the Law is Elevated (1829–1830) and The Feast of the Rejoicing of the Law at the Synagogue in Leghorn, Italy (1850). Hart also painted many historical subjects, frequently drawn from Shakespeare’s plays and Walter Scott’s novels.

Entries in the Posen Library by This Creator

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An Early Reading of Shakespeare

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Responding to a growing interest in Shakespeare among the English, Hart’s painting imagines what it might have been like to hear Shakespeare’s works read out loud, shortly after they became available…

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The Feast of the Rejoicing of the Law at the Synagogue in Leghorn, Italy

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In the nineteenth century, especially in the era before photography, it was common for artists to travel to exotic or picturesque locations in Europe, North Africa, and the Near East, and to produce…
Painting of women seated at rows of desks sewing.
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Related Guide

Painters, Sculptors, and Photographers

1750–1880

All over the world, Jewish art reflected the hybrid nature of Jewishness, including the material circumstances and cultural milieu of the larger environment. Individual artisans and artists selected and created according to their personal and Jewish experiences.