Rokeby Venus connoisseurs steal a glance without drawing the said posterior into the company". The "Rokeby Venus" was long held to be one of Velázquez's final works. In 1951, it was found recorded in an inventory of 1 June 1651 from the collection of Gaspar Méndez de Haro, 7th Marquis of Carpio, a close associate of Philip IV of Spain. Haro was the great-nephew of Velázquez's first patron, the Count-Duke of Olivares, and a notorious libertine. According to the art historian Dawson Carr, Haro "loved paintings almost as much as he loved women", and "even his panegyrists lamented his excessive taste for
Ralph Rokeby (died 1596) Ralph Rokeby (died 1596) Ralph Rokeby (c.1527–1596) was an English barrister and judge who held high office in Ireland. He was born at Mortham in Yorkshire, the second son of Thomas Rokeby and his wife Jane Constable; Jane was the daughter of Sir Robert Constable of Cliffe, Selby, who was executed in 1537 for his part in the Pilgrimage of Grace, and his wife Jane Ingleby. Ralph was educated at the University of Cambridge and Lincoln's Inn, where he was called to the Bar. He was first sent to Ireland in the service of Queen Elizabeth I in 1566; he