The title refers to Jesus’s death on the cross as related in the Gospel of Saint Matthew. At that exact moment, Matthew recorded, the veil of the temple tore in half, the earth shook and the stones cracked open [Matthew 27: 50-51]. The veil of the Temple in Jerusalem marked a division between a general, public space and the sacrosanct ‘Holy of Holies’ entered only by the High Priest; its tearing of the veil is momentous, seeming to symbolise a historic change in a transgressively disruptive act.

Jesus appears in profile at the centre of the drawing, impassive and expressionless. As a Jew steeped in the history, beliefs and religious practices of his faith, Solomon would have been acutely aware of the controversial interpretation of this account of the final act of the Crucifixion. The implication is that, on the death of Jesus the barrier (veil) between the people and their priesthood, was destroyed.

This composition was photographed by Frederick Hollyer and sold as a commercial print.

We are grateful to Colin Cruise for his assistance in preparing this catalogue entry.