A Vision of Wounded Love by Simeon Solomon (1840-1905)

A Vision of Wounded Love

Simeon Solomon (1840-1905)

Ssigned "Simeon Solomon' and dated 1893

Pencil on paper

15 x 18 3/4 inches, 8.5 x 47.5 cm.

Commentary by Hilary Morgan and Peter Nahum

This is one of the few fine drawings that Solomon produced at the end of his life, despite the ravages of indigency and alcoholism. The theme of visionary experience had preoccupied him since he had written A Vision of Love revealed in Sleep in 1870. In the present drawing the sense of a supernatural image is created by the irrational difference of scale of the figures and the skillful handling of pencil that makes the watcher seem solid and material and the figure of Love dissolved in light. Solomon had first created an image of 'Love Bound and Wounded' in a watercolour shown at the Royal Academy in 1870 and a description of his image is found in A Vision of Love revealed in Sleep. In the present drawing, Solomon's imagery is gentler than that of the earlier work, where Love was 'wounded beyond the hope of healing, bound hand and foot,' but still he shows 'the myrtles upon his brow withered and falling.'

Exhibited: London, Baillie Gallery, 9 December 1905 to 13 January 1906, Simeon Solomon, number 113.

References

Morgan, Hilary, and Peter Nahum. Burne-Jones, the Pre-Raphaelites, and Their Century. London: Peter Nahum, 1989. Catalogue number 132.

Reynolds, Simon. The Vision of Simeon Solomon. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Catalpa Press, 1985.

Peter Nahum Ltd, London has most generously given its permission to use in the Victorian Web information, images, and text from its catalogues, and this generosity has led to the creation of hundreds of the site's most valuable documents on painting, drawing, and sculpture. The copyright on text and images from their catalogues remains, of course, with Peter Nahum Ltd.

Readers should consult the website of Peter Nahum at the Leicester Galleries to obtain information about recent exhibitions and to order their catalogues. [GPL]

Last modified 1 December 2004