Night and her child Sleep

Night and Sleep was a subject that fascinated Solomon and one that he returned to repeatedly, particularly from the 1880s onwards. Colin Cruise has suggested that the concept comes from Shelley, whose 1813 Queen Mab opened with the lines, 'How wonderful is Death, Death and his brother Sleep!' (C. Cruise, Love Revealed: Simeon Solomon and the Pre-Raphaelites, London, 2005, p. 170).