David Alfred Thomas (1856–1918), 1st Viscount Rhondda

David Alfred Thomas, first Viscount Rhondda, was the most powerful industrialist in the South Wales coalfield, transforming the Cambrian Combine into one of the largest coal-mining enterprises in Britain. Solomon Joseph Solomon's 1917 portrait was painted during the First World War, when Rhondda served as President of the Board of Trade and was known as a crucial organiser of Britain's wartime food supply. The portrait thus carries both the gravitas of industrial achievement and the urgency of wartime public service. Solomon was alert to the political weight such images carried: a formal oil portrait of a Cabinet-level figure in wartime had propaganda value as well as commemorative function. Held at the National Museum Cardiff, the painting stands as a document of Wales's contribution to the British war effort through the leadership of its industrial and political elite.

Wartime portraiture at this date was typically restrained in colour to project seriousness of purpose. Solomon would likely have used a dark, neutral background with the sitter in formal or semi-official dress, the face lit strongly to project authority. His brushwork in the coat and shirt front provides tonal relief against the darker ground.