Rokeby Venus may have commissioned himself, "The Nude Maja" and "The Clothed Maja". These bear obvious compositional similarities with Velázquez's "Venus", although unlike Velázquez, Goya clearly painted his nude in a calculated attempt to provoke shame and disgust in the relatively unenlightened climate of 18th-century Spain. "Venus" was brought to England in 1813, where it was purchased by John Morritt for £500 (£ in 2019), and on the advice of his friend Sir Thomas Lawrence. Morritt hung it in his house at Rokeby Park, Yorkshire—thus the painting's popular name. In 1906, the painting was acquired for the National Gallery by the newly
Thomas de Rokeby (died 1356) Thomas de Rokeby (died 1356) Sir Thomas de Rokeby (died 1356 or 1357) was a soldier and senior Crown official in fourteenth-century England and Ireland, who served as Justiciar of Ireland. He had considerable early success in restoring law and order in Ireland, which was presumably the reason for his appointment as Justiciar, but he was recalled to England after the military situation deteriorated. He was later re-appointed to the office of Justiciar, and returned to Ireland to take up office shortly before his death. The Rokebys were a prominent landowning family from Mortham in North Yorkshire; Thomas was probably