Rokeby Venus as well as classical sculptures known to Velázquez, of which casts were made for Madrid. These were the "Sleeping Ariadne" now in the Pitti Palace, but then in Rome, of which Velázquez ordered a cast for the Royal collection in 1650–51, and the Borghese Hermaphroditus, a sleeping hermaphrodite (picture to the right above), now in the Louvre, of which a cast was sent to Madrid, and which also emphasises the curve from hip to waist. However, the combination of elements in Velázquez's composition was original. The "Rokeby Venus" may have been intended as a pendant to a sixteenth-century Venetian painting
Rokeby, Ontario at the 'meeting of the waters'. It seems likely that both Colborne and Thomas Need would have been familiar with this part of England, and possibly with the painting. They would certainly have been familiar with the epic poem "Rokeby", by Sir Walter Scott, which was written, and set, in that locality. Rokeby would have been a natural choice for this place of rapids, rocks, and waterfalls - which we now know as Bobcaygeon. Rokeby, Ontario Rokeby, Ontario was the Government townsite located on the mainland at Bobcaygeon, Ontario, Canada, by the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, Sir John Colborne. Through