Simeon Solomon (1840-1905)

Colin Cruise has suggested that the unusual subject matter of this sheet may have been inspired by Solomon's acquaintance with the community of Franciscan friars established in Notting Hill in the 1860s. Recognisable by their simple habits and knotted rope belts, the friars are depicted deep in prayer in an olive grove, one of the associations of their founder, St Francis of Assisi. Solomon, born a Jew, found from the 1860s onwards a deep-seated interest in Catholicism and its rituals.

Stylistically, the sheet demonstrates not only his interest in early Florentine painting, but also, in its technique and use of line, the work of William Blake, whose interest in a wide range of religions Solomon shared.