The Return (First Class)
Not on view
Solomon exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1854 two contrasting paintings set in railway carriages: "Second Class—The Parting ('Thus part we rich in sorrow, parting poor')" and "First Class—The Meeting ('And at first meeting loved')". This print reproduces a version of the latter now in the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. It depicts the sequel to its pendant and the amorous chance encounter between the same young man (having now become a naval officer) and a woman, accompanied by her father, in a first-class compartment. The works became popular and were published as a pair of large single-sheet prints in 1857, and the companion print is also in the Met's collection (66.628.15). In fact the works were so popular Solomon made other variant replicas of them.
