Venus, by Thomas Matthews Rooke, RWS (1842-1942). Oil on canvas 14 x 14 inches (35.6 x 35.6 cm). Private collection, image ©2020 Christie's Images Limited. Reproduced by kind permission (not to be downloaded; right click disabled).
This picture does not appear to have been exhibited at any of the principal London venues like the Royal Academy, the Grosvenor Gallery, or the New Gallery. Rooke gave it to his daughter-in-law, Celia Rooke (née Fiennes), who was also an artist. It was a fitting gift, a portrayal of the Goddess of Love, to his son's wife. Celia had met Noel Rooke at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London where he had been her tutor. The couple married on December 31, 1932.
When this picture sold at Christie's at the Joe Setton sale in 2020 their experts described Rooke's picture: "Here he depicts Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, standing in flowing blue drapery with flowers garlanding her head. As in Botticelli's Birth of Venus (c.1485, The Uffizi, Florence), Rooke depicts Venus with cascading blonde hair held in her left hand. The boat in the background, Venus's pearl necklace and the shell in her right hand all reference her mythological birth from the sea where she was blown ashore in a shell by Zephyr, the god of the wind." Around her head can be seen a flock of doves. Venus was frequently depicted in art with doves fluttering about her, as in Walter Crane's The Renaissance of Venus.
Bibliography
The Joe Setton Collection: From Pre-Raphaelites to Last Romantics. London: Christie's (10 December 2020): lot 11. https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6290729 2020_T.M.Rooke_Venus.jpg
Created 18 January 2026