Carrying the Scrolls of the Law
Simeon Solomon
1867
Simeon Solomon’s Carrying the Scrolls of Law, like other pre-Raphaelite paintings, explores the themes of spirituality and religious devotion. Solomon also explores the beauty of the young man carrying the Torah, painting him embracing the Torah in a loving—and sensuous—way. This watercolor and gouache painting is one of several versions of the subject that Solomon painted. In another, the young man’s peyot (earlocks) are not shaven off, as they are here.
Credits
The Whitworth Art Gallery, the University of Manchester / Bridgeman Images.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 6.
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Creator Bio
Simeon Solomon
1840–1905
Simeon Solomon attended the Royal Academy in London at age fifteen and was the youngest artist whose work was ever shown there. Early in his career, he painted Old Testament and Jewish religious subjects. Inspired by the Italian Renaissance, Solomon increasingly turned to religious mystical subjects and classical pagan themes painted in a pre-Raphaelite style. Much of Solomon’s work was homoerotic, and in 1871 his prose poem on the theme of same-sex male love, “A Vision of Love Revealed in Sleep,” was attacked. His arrest and conviction for gross indecency in 1873 destroyed Solomon’s career and led to years of social condemnation, alcoholism, and poverty.
Public Access
Image
Places:
London, United Kingdom
Subjects:
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