Studio RT Ltd

Description

We are excited to offer for sale this exhibited watercolour by the famous Pre-Raphaelite artist THOMAS MATTHEWS ROOKE, who has signed the painting T.M.Rooke in the lower right hand corner and dated it 1909, as well as signing it with his name and address and the location on the back of the painting. The artist has also given the location of the painting and where it would be exhibited on a label on the inside of the old backboard, in his own hand, which reads as follows

No. 5 RWS 1910 St. Bartholomew's Choir first bay in the north aisle. T. M. Rooke 7, Queen Anne's Gardens, Bedford Park, London.

To the left of the painting you will see a mother and small child wearing a red coat and a panama hat with a ribbon round it. The artist has captured the light flooding into the dim interior of the bay perfectly.

Thomas Matthews Rooke first studied art at evening classes, before becoming a pupil at South Kensington and the RA Schools. In 1869, he applied to work at Morris and Company, and was seconded to work as a Studio Assistant to Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, who was a director of that Company. He worked for Burne-Jones for 30 years until his death and became his friend. During his time with Burne-Jones he recorded details of their many conversations, which, after Burne-Jones' death, he gave to his widow Georgiana, who used them as reference in her memorial to her husband.

In 1878, Burne-Jones recommended him to Ruskin, saying of him 'There is a very high place in Heaven waiting for him and he doesn't know it'.

Ruskin was looking for artists to record old Renaissance buildings in Italy and the Continent, which were threatened with demolition or restoration and Rooke became one of them. He worked for Ruskin until 1893 making detailed watercolours of mosaics in St. Marks in Venice and many other buildings. These watercolours are now in the Ruskin Library in Lancaster University.

He also did a series of watercolours for the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Works of Art - now in the Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery.

As well as these tasks, he continued to paint and exhibit his own works, producing a series of biblical oil paintings in the Pre-Raphaelite style, as well as architectural, portrait and domestic watercolours.

There are 19 of his paintings in the National Collection - 3 in the Tate Gallery, one of which 'The Story of Ruth' was purchased for the Chantrey Bequest in 1877, 1 in Birmingham Art Gallery, 6 in Russell-Coates AG and Museum, 2 in Ruskin Library, 1 in The Ashmolean and 6 in Southwark Art Collection. There is also a Watercolour in Delaware in the USA.

He was elected an Associate Member of the Royal Watercolour Society in 1891 and a full Member in 1903.

Thomas Rooke was a gentle, self-deprecating man and prolific artist. His son Noel Rooke ARE was also an artist, teacher and wood engraver. There is a wealth of information about this artist on google. He died on 27th July, 1942 at the above address in his 100th year and was working into his 98th year.

Biographical information is available on the Victorian Web on google, the Dictionary of British Artists, the Dictionary of Victorian Painters by Christopher Wood and the Dictionary of British Artists by Grant Waters. His many auction results may be found at the usual sites, but the record for one of his oils in recent years is £85,000.

The painting was unmounted in a poor frame, so it has been newly double mounted in two tone to complement and is framed in a 1 1/8" gilt frame. It is ready to hang. The original backboard with his label has been retained.

Medium Watercolours