Rokeby Venus painted by many later artists. Manet, in his stark female portrayal "Olympia", paraphrased the "Rokeby Venus" in pose and by suggesting the persona of a real woman rather than an ethereal goddess. "Olympia" shocked the Parisian art world when it was first exhibited in 1863. Olympia gazes directly out at the viewer, as does Velázquez's Venus, only through the reflection of the mirror. The 1961 film "The Happy Thieves" features a plan to steal the picture from a Spanish mansion. On 10 March 1914, the suffragette Mary Richardson walked into the National Gallery and attacked Velázquez's canvas with a meat
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