Rokeby Venus its central use of a mirror, and because it shows the body of Venus turned away from the observer of the painting. The "Rokeby Venus" is the only surviving female nude by Velázquez. Nudes were extremely rare in seventeenth-century Spanish art, which was policed actively by members of the Spanish Inquisition. 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. In 1906, the painting was purchased by National Art Collections Fund
Rokeby, Ontario at the 'meeting of the waters'. It seems likely that both Colborne and Thomas Need would have been familiar with this part of England, and possibly with the painting. They would certainly have been familiar with the epic poem "Rokeby", by Sir Walter Scott, which was written, and set, in that locality. Rokeby would have been a natural choice for this place of rapids, rocks, and waterfalls - which we now know as Bobcaygeon. Rokeby, Ontario Rokeby, Ontario was the Government townsite located on the mainland at Bobcaygeon, Ontario, Canada, by the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, Sir John Colborne. Through