The Town and Country Belle

Abraham Solomon was the elder brother of Rebecca and Simeon Solomon. All three enjoyed artistic success, although the younger siblings' lives were blighted by alcoholism and scandal. Abraham's own career followed more conventional lines and his work proved consistently popular. His most acclaimed Academy exhibits, 1st Class - The Meeting and 2nd Class - The Parting were widely reproduced through engravings (see lot 49). The Town and Country Belle bears all the hallmarks of the artist's work: soft, deft brushwork, delicate-featured models and a teasing narrative theme. It is a characteristic example of comparative genre, in the tradition of archetypal dualisms such as virtue and vice, or wealth and poverty.