Simeon Solomon 1840-1905

The subject of sleep was one with which Solomon became increasingly fascinated in his later life and he painted and drew several pictures of winged heads garlanded with poppies, the flowers of sleep. The pinnacle of Solomon’s preoccupation with the theme of sleep was his beautiful prose poem A Vision of Love Revealed in Sleep which begins 'Upon the waning of the night, at that time when the stars are pale, and when dreams wrap us about more closely, when a brighter radiance is shed upon our spirits, three sayings of the wise King came unto me. These are they: - I sleep, but my heart waketh; also, Many waters cannot quench love; and again, Until the day break, and the shadows flee away; and I fell musing and thinking much upon them.' (Simeon Solomon, A Vision of Love Revealed in Sleep, 1871, p.B).