With “The Rossettis” exhibition departing, the Delaware Art Museum commits to another Pre-Raphaelite show in 2027.
The museum plans to turn its attention to painter Simeon Solomon.
Solomon was in his teens as the pre-Raphaelite movement was in full swing in the 19th century. Jewish and queer, Solomon found solace in the beauty of the pre-Raphaelite artists, and his artwork developed in the late 1800s as the Victorian era came to appreciate art for art’s sake.
"The pre-Raph landscape painter George Price Boyce had seen works by a 17 year old Simeon Solomon, and he wrote that they showed much Rossetti-like feeling."
Delaware Art Museum Curator Dr. Sophie Lynford is assembling the exhibition with Dr. Roberto Ferrari, Curator of Art Properties at Columbia University - a leading Solomon scholar.
"In a couple of weeks we’re taking our first trip to London together to begin looking at works both in public collections, like the Victoria and Albert Museum and The British Museum, and in private collections to assemble our wish list of drawings and paintings that we’ll want to bring over."
Scheduled for spring 2027, this will be the first museum show in the United States to comprehensively focus on Solomon - and will be produced exclusively by Delaware Art Museum.
The museum is currently displaying a significant Solomon oil painting - The Mother of Moses - in its permanent galleries.
Delaware Public Media' s arts coverage is made possible, in part, by support from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
