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3 unusual facts about Rokeby Venus


Rokeby Venus

Despite this, nudes by foreign artists were keenly collected by the court circle, and this painting was hung in the houses of Spanish courtiers until 1813, when it was brought to England to hang in Rokeby Park, Yorkshire.

However, the simplicity with which Velázquez displays the female nude—without jewellery or any of the goddess's usual accessories—was echoed in later nude studies by Ingres, Manet, and Baudry, among others.

Another attitude to the issue was shown by Morritt, who wrote to Sir Walter Scott of his "fine painting of Venus' backside", which he hung above his main fireplace, so that "the ladies may avert their downcast eyes without difficulty and connoisseurs steal a glance without drawing the said posterior into the company".


Rokeby Park

The house is well known as the original English home of the painting The Toilet of Venus by Diego Velázquez, now known in English as The Rokeby Venus.

The Dumbfounded King

Story set in 17th century Spanish court, where King Philip IV (Gabino Diego), on a getaway with Count of Peña Andrada, is stunned to see the naked body of Marfisa, a prostitute of the town (in a pose reminiscent of Rokeby Venus).


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