An Early Reading of Shakespeare, 1838

Solomon Alexander Hart RA (April 1806 - 1881)

RA Collection: Art

Solomon Hart was born in Plymouth but moved to London in 1820 with his father, a Jewish goldsmith, engraver and Hebrew teacher. He began his studies by drawing classical sculpture at the British Museum and was admitted in 1823 to the Royal Academy Schools. He was elected a Royal Academician in 1840, the first Jew to be thus honoured.

From the 1830s there was a growing interest in the early history of England and also the enshrining of Shakespeare as a national treasure. Hart seeks here not to paint a specific historical event or a scene from Shakespeare but rather to recreate the atmosphere of an late 16th century domestic interior showing figures listening attentively to a reading of the famous author.