Rokeby Venus with blond hair, Velázquez's Venus is a brunette. The female figure can be identified as Venus because of the presence of her son, Cupid. Venus gazes into a mirror held by Cupid, who is without his usual bow and arrows. When the work was first inventoried, it was described as "a nude woman", probably owing to its controversial nature. Venus looks outward at the viewer of the painting through her reflected image in the mirror. However, the image is blurred and reveals only a vague reflection of her facial characteristics; the reflected image of the head is much larger than
Rokeby Preparatory School school. A year later numbers had increased sufficiently to warrant a larger premises, so the school was moved to another house known as "Rokeby" (at no. 17, The Downs) in 1879 – a site now occupied by Hall School Wimbledon. When the Association of Preparatory Schools was founded in 1892 (a precursor to the current IAPS), Rokeby was one of the first members. In 1965 the then owner of the school stated his intent to close it, and a group of parents decided that it should be rescued. Rokeby Educational Trust Limited, a charity, was set up in 1966 to