Rokeby Venus have been able to see it on occasion throughout its history. Velázquez's portrait is a staging of a private moment of intimacy and a dramatic departure from the classical depictions of sleep and intimacy found in works from antiquity and Venetian art that portray Venus. 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. In addition, Velázquez's depiction of Venus as a reclining nude viewed from the rear was a rarity before that time, although the pose has been
Rokeby Preparatory School Headmaster Jason Peck revamped the uniform by replacing the black in the official school colours with blue in an attempt to bring the school more in line with his views on progressive education. He also scrapped the separate junior school uniform. To mark the occasion of the Rokeby Centenary, in 1977, Ian Gregory (who taught Latin at the time) composed the Rokeby School song, based loosely on the "Carmen Saeculare" of Horace, and put to music by Paul Sherrell, then Head of Music. A version of the song follows first in Latin and then in English: <poem>In urbe iuxta fluvium