View source for Simeon Solomon

[[File:Simeon Solomon.jpg|thumb|Simeon Solomon]]'''Simeon Solomon''' (1840–1905) was a painter, thought to be the only gay member of the Pre-Raphaelite movement.

Simeon was born as the youngest child of a Jewish family in London; a sister and brother were both painters. While studying at the Royal Academy Schools, Solomon was introduced through Dante Gabriel Rossetti to other members of the Pre-Raphaelite circle, as well as the poet [[Algernon Charles Swinburne]] and the painter Edward Burne-Jones in 1857. 

His held exhibitions of his work at the Royal Academy between 1858 and 1872. In addition to the literary paintings favoured by the Pre-Raphaelite school, Solomon's subjects often included scenes from the Hebrew Bible and genre paintings depicting Jewish life and rituals. In 1865 he produced illustrations for Swinburne's pornographic novel ''Lesbia Brandon''<ref>Peter Horne, Reina Lewis, ''Outlooks: lesbian and gay sexualities and visual cultures'', Routledge, 1996, ISBN 0-415-12468-9, p. 70</ref><ref>''Lesbia Brandon'', in which the young Herbert is repeatedly flogged by his teacher, was never finished, and was published after Swinburne's death.</ref>

In 1873 Solomon was arrested at a public urinal at Stratford Place Mews, off Oxford Street, central London, and fined £100 for [[attempted sodomy]].<ref name=peniston>William A. Peniston, "Pederasts and others: urban culture and sexual identity in nineteenth-century Paris", ''Haworth gay & lesbian studies'', Routledge, 2004, ISBN 1-56023-486-5, pp. 77–78</ref> The following year he was arrested again in Paris, and he was sentenced to three months in prison.<ref name=peniston/><ref name="glbtq">http://www.glbtq.com/arts/solomon_s.html Ray Anne Lockard, "Solomon, Simeon" ''glbtq.com'', 2002</ref><ref>Michael Matthew Kaylor, "Secreted Desires: The Major Uranians: Hopkins, Pater and Wilde", Michael Matthew Kaylor, 2006, ISBN 80-210-4126-9, p. 81</ref><ref>Jeffrey Merrick, Bryant T Ragan, "Homosexuality in modern France", ''Studies in the history of sexuality'', Oxford University Press US, 1996, ISBN 0-19-509303-8, p. 134</ref>

In 1884 he was admitted to the workhouse where he continued painting. In 1905 he died from complications brought on by his alcoholism. He was buried at the [[Jewish Cemetery, Willesden]].

==References==
<references>

[[Category:Painters]]
[[Category:1840 births]]
[[Category:1905 deaths]]