Rokeby Venus created National Art Collections Fund, its first campaigning triumph. King Edward VII greatly admired the painting, and anonymously provided £8,000 (£ in 2019) towards its purchase, and became Patron of the Fund thereafter. In part because he was overlooked until the mid-19th century, Velázquez found no followers and was not widely imitated. In particular, his visual and structural innovations in this portrayal of Venus were not developed by other artists until recently, largely owing to the censorship of the work. The painting remained in a series of private rooms in private collections until it was exhibited in 1857 at the
William Rokeby rules for admission to the clergy. Rather comically, Rokeby strictly forbade clergymen to play football. By 1521 his health was failing: he retired to Kirk Sandall and died there on 29 November. Rokeby made elaborate provision in his will for the disposal of his remains: he asked that his body should be buried in Halifax, but that his heart should be buried in St Oswald's Church, Kirk Sandall, and that mortuary chapels be erected at both spots. The Rokeby chapels in St Oswald's and Halifax Minster still exist. O'Flanagan praises Rokeby as a good man, a good bishop and, so