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
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