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Creator:
Abraham Solomon, 1823–1862
Title:
First Class—The Meeting. "And at first meeting loved." [1854, Royal Academy of Arts, London, exhibition catalogue]
Date:
1855
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on panel
Dimensions:
8 x 10 inches (20.3 x 25.4 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:

Signed and dated in red paint, lower right: "A Solomon. 1855"

Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1987.26.3
Classification:
Paintings
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Link to Frame:
B1987.26.3FR
Subject Terms:
bonnet | capote | costume | daughter | elderly | family | father | flowers (plants) | genre subject | gown | meeting | men | officer (administrator) | romance | train | transportation | travel | trousers | uniform | window | woman
Access:
On view
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:1371
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This pair of paintings, copies of larger originals, is Abraham Solomon’s earliest attempt at representing scenes from modern life after more than a decade of focusing on historical and literary subjects. Although he used suitable quotations from Shakespeare as subtitles for both pictures, these works reflect the social impact of new mass transit in the Victorian era. The railroad network expanded at a dramatic rate throughout the nineteenth century, becoming accessible to individuals at varying economic levels. Here, an unexpected romance begins in the close quarters of the first-class coach, where a young woman and a naval officer engage in a flirtation mediated by a young woman’s father or guardian. Meanwhile, in the second-class coach, the signs posted inside suggest that the young sailor at the center is about to leave his widowed mother to emigrate and seek a new life in Australia.

Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2016

In a New Light: 500 Years of British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2025-04-01 - 2026-01-30) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Paintings from the Reign of Victoria - The Royal Holloway Collection (Yale Center for British Art, 2009-05-07 - 2009-07-26) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Imaginative Geographies (Yale Center for British Art, 2006-02-01 - 2006-08-18) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Rowan Julie Brown, Art in the Age of Steam, Technology and Culture, vol. 50, Baltimore, Accessed August 8, 2025, p. 421, International Bibliography Of Art (YCBA) [ORBIS]

Joan DelPlato, Victorian Artists’ Autograph Replicas : Auras, Aesthetics, Patronage and the Art Market, Vol. 63, Accessed August 8, 2025, p. 446, Art & Architecture Source (YCBA) [ORBIS]

Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, vol. 5, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1854, p. 15, no. 314, N5054 A53 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Lionel Lambourne, Abraham Solomon, Painter of fashion, and Simeon Solomon, Decadent Artist , Transactions (Jewish Historical Society of England), vol. 21, Accessed August 7, 2025, p. 276, fig. 2, Jstor [ORBIS]

Christopher Matthews, Love at first sight : the velocity of Victorian heterosexuality, Victorian Studies, vol. 46, Accessed August 8, 2025, pp. 426-429, fig. 2, Art & Architecture Source (YCBA) [ORBIS]

Laura L. Meixner, The Railway : art in the age of steam / art in the age of steam : Europe, America and the Railway, 1830-1960, Accessed August 8, 2025, p. 2, Art & Architecture Source (YCBA) [ORBIS]

Helen Mullaly, Round the Galleries : Mainly Nineteenth Century, Apollo, vol. 106, The Spectator, London, October 1, 1977, p. 315, Art & Architecture Source (YCBA) [ORBIS]

Helen Mullaly, Round the galleries : treasures and travels, Apollo, vol. 122, The Spectator, London, November 1, 1985, p. 396, Art & Architecture Archive (YCBA) [ORBIS]

Graham Reynolds, Painters of the victorian scene, London, 1953, p. 65, pl. 2, ND496 R48 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Solomon : A Family of Painters : Abraham Solomon, 1823-1862, Rebecca Solomon, 1832-1886, Simeon Solomon, 1840-1905 : Geffrye Museum, London, 8 November-31 December 1985 [and] Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery 18 January-9 March 1986, London, frontispiece, NJ18 So442 S65 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Sotheby's : Important 19th century European paintings and sculpture : 23 October 1997, Sotheby's, New York, October 29, 1981, lot 99, Auction Catalogues (YCBA) [YCBA]

Janet Whitmore, Art in the Age of Steam, Europe, American [sic] and the Railway, 1830-1960, Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide, vol. 8, Accessed August 8, 2025, p. 1, fig. 7, Art & Architecture Source (YCBA) [ORBIS]

Mahonri Sharp Young, 0 Canada! 0 Expo!, Apollo, vol. 86, The Spectator, London, September 1, 1967, p. 237, Art & Architecture Archive (YCBA) [ORBIS]


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