Rokeby Venus created National Art Collections Fund, its first campaigning triumph. King Edward VII greatly admired the painting, and anonymously provided £8,000 (£ in 2019) towards its purchase, and became Patron of the Fund thereafter. In part because he was overlooked until the mid-19th century, Velázquez found no followers and was not widely imitated. In particular, his visual and structural innovations in this portrayal of Venus were not developed by other artists until recently, largely owing to the censorship of the work. The painting remained in a series of private rooms in private collections until it was exhibited in 1857 at the
Thomas de Rokeby the siege of Rouen in 1418–1419 and marched through Paris in triumph in 1420. He was MP again for Yorkshire in 1423. He married a daughter of Sir Ralph Eure. Thomas de Rokeby Sir Thomas de Rokeby was a 15th-century English soldier, Knight of the Shire and High Sheriff of Yorkshire. He was born into a well-known north Yorkshire family with a seat at Mortham on the banks of the Tees. An earlier Thomas de Rokeby who died in 1356 had been Lord Lieutenant of Ireland; he was probably a brother of the younger Thomas' great-grandfather. In 1405 he served