Simeon Solomon - Sappho and Erinna in a Garden at Mytilene

Simeon Solomon (1840—1905) was a British painter and illustrator, a member of a well-known family of artists. He was part of Rossetti's circle and a friend of Burne-Jones, and his work shows strong Pre-Raphaelite influence. In the 1860s he built up a reputation as an illustrator as well as a painter, but then sank into a life of idleness and dissipation (in 1873 he was convicted of homosexual offences and although he was let off lightly his career was ruined by the incident). His later years were spent in a pathetically bohemian existence, and he died of alcoholism.