The Departure (Second Class)

1857

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 former now in the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. It depicts the painful separation of a mother and her young son who has decided to try his luck and enlist in the British Royal Navy: posters in the second-class compartment advertise transport to the Australian cities of Sydney and Port Phillip. 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 (66.628.16). In fact the works were so popular Solomon made other variant replicas of them.

Artwork Details

Overview

References

Title: The Departure (Second Class)
Artist: After Abraham Solomon (British, London 1823–1862 Biarritz)
Engraver: William Henry Simmons (British, London 1811–1882 London)
Publisher: E. Gambart & Co. , London
Printer: McQueen & Co. (London)
Date: 1857
Medium: Mixed method engraving
Dimensions: Plate: 22 7/8 × 29 1/2 in. (58.1 × 74.9 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1966
Object Number: 66.628.15
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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The Return (First Class)

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April 4, 1857

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