Simeon Solomon

Today marks the anniversary of the death of Simeon Solomon, the Pre-Raphaelite artist whose career was cut short by scandal. He died in St Giles's Workhouse, Endell Street, London, on August 14 1905. In 1873 he was arrested in a public urinal at Stratford Place Mews and charged with attempting to commit sodomy. He was fined £100. He fared even worse in Paris the following year, when he was sentenced to three months in prison. Shamed, rejected not only by the Art Establishment, but also by his own Jewish community, he became an alcoholic, which eventually caused his death in the workhouse. He was buried at the Jewish Cemetery in Willesden (CLICK). Shown is his Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (1863).