Autumn's Pipe, by Thomas Matthews Rooke, RWS (1842-1942). Oil on canvas. 31 x 24 inches (79 x 61 cm). Private collection, image courtesy of Sotheby's.
Rooke exhibited this painting at the Royal Academy 1887, no. 104. It features two young women in an idyllic outdoor setting. One wears a vermillion dress with a grey overmantel and is sitting on the limb of an apple tree playing a pipe. Her companion wears a rich purple dress with white sleeves and lies on the ground absorbed in the music.
When the work sold at Sotheby's in 2006 their experts felt this painting was influenced by both Pre-Raphaelitism and the Arts and Crafts Movement:
As with so many of Burne-Jones's masterworks, the subject of Rooke's painting is mythological, if more allegorical and less organized around a specific Classical tale. Here a maiden, the allegory of Autumn in a gown the color of fallen leaves with a small harvesting scythe tucked into her belt, perches in an apple tree and holds a pipe to her lips. Lost in the musical reverie, the piper's companion has taken a break from reading her illuminated book to listen; a fur stole provides her warmth from the crisp day and cool ground dotted with fallen fruit. Devoid of an explicit narrative, Rooke focuses attention on the intricate ornamental details of trees, leaves and drapery. Rich, red flowers pop out from green-blue foliage while thin strokes of black paint intertwine with wider grey and brown strokes to create the gnarled trunk of the apple tree. The picture space is filled with fine, interlocking brushstrokes and complex color patterns. While not overtly painterly, the canvas surface has a textural feel, reminiscent of medieval crewel work tapestries. This effect is likely intentional; given his association with Morris and Burne-Jones, Rooke would have shared in the appreciation of medieval craft and fabric.... Like a masterwork of tapestry, Rooke's piece is remarkable in its long, vertical forms, intertwined, undulating fruit and vine motifs, and layers of color and design.... The overall effect reveals the incredible visual possibilities and diverse inspirations for decoration that the Arts and Crafts movement introduced to artists like Rooke.
Bibliography
19th Century European Art including Sporting Paintings. New York: Sotheby's (25 April 2006): lot 110.
The British Sale: Paintings and Watercolours. London: Sotheby's (27 November 2003): lot 326.
Created 17 January 2026