Rebecca Solomon's The Young Teacher Acquired by Tate Britain and Museum of the Home

Tate Britain and the Museum of the Home in London have jointly acquired Rebecca Solomon's 1861 painting The Young Teacher. The British government blocked the work's export to Princeton, citing its significant national interest. Solomon (1832–1886), born into a liberal Jewish family in London, was one of eight children; her brothers Abraham (1823–1862) and Simeon (1840–1905) were also artists. Barred from the Royal Academy as a woman, she trained at the Spitalfields School of Design and later campaigned successfully for the Academy to admit women, which it did in 1860. She worked in John Everett Millais's studio painting draperies and exhibited oils and watercolors across Britain. Her subjects often drew on popular literature and current events, such as Peg Woffington's Visit to Triplet (1860) and The Story of Balaclava (1855). Works like The Governess (1854) and A Friend in Need (1859) addressed social inequality. After her brother Simeon's 1873 indecency conviction, her career declined; she never exhibited after 1874 and died in poverty in 1886 after being run over by a hansom cab. The acquisition marks renewed recognition for Solomon.