Thomas Matthews Rooke (1842,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

– 1942, London) was a British watercolourist. He worked as a designer, as an assistant to other artists, and was commissioned by

John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English polymath a writer, lecturer, art historian, art critic, draughtsman and philanthropist of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as art, architecture, Critique of politic ...

to make architectural drawings.

Life

Ruskin hired Rooke from Morris & Co. in 1879, and Rooke was still paid by him eight years later. In 1884 he was painting Italian architecture. Ruskin's project aimed to record threatened landscapes and buildings, and for it he also employed Frank Randal (1852–1917), and half a dozen others. Mentioned are Angelo Alessandri,

John Wharlton Bunney John Wharlton Bunney (20 June 1828 – 23 September 1882) was an English topographical and landscape artist of the nineteenth century. His father was a merchant captain whom Bunney, as a boy, accompanied on several voyages around the world. ...

, Henry Stacy Marks,

Charles Fairfax Murray Charles Fairfax Murray (30 September 1849 – 25 January 1919) was a British painter, dealer, collector, benefactor, and art historian who was connected with the second wave of the Pre-Raphaelites. Early years The youngest of four children, ...

, and

Henry Roderick Newman Henry Roderick Newman (March 4, 1843 Easton, New York - December 1, 1917, Florence, Italy Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and ...

. In parallel Rooke was a studio assistant to

Edward Burne-Jones Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August 183317 June 1898) was an English painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood's style and subject matter. Burne-Jones worked with William Morris as a founding part ...

, during the period 1868 to 1898. He also did work for

Sydney Cockerell Sir Sydney Carlyle Cockerell (16 July 1867 – 1 May 1962) was an English museum curator and collector. From 1908 to 1937, he was director of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England. He was knighted in 1934. Biography Sydney Cockerell m ...

and the

Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) (also known as Anti-Scrape) is an amenity society founded by William Morris, Philip Webb, and others in 1877 to oppose the Victorian restoration, destructive 'restoration' of ancient bu ...

; and exhibited at the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

and

Grosvenor Gallery The Grosvenor Gallery was an art gallery in London founded in 1877 by Sir Coutts Lindsay and his wife Blanche. Its first directors were J. Comyns Carr and Charles Hallé. The gallery proved crucial to the Aesthetic Movement because it provid ...

. He contributed a painting to an 1882 book ''Bedford Park'', celebrating the then-fashionable garden suburb of that name.

Family

Rooke married Leonora Jane Jones; the wood-engraver

Noel Rooke Noel Rooke (1881–1953) was a British wood-engraver and artist. His ideas and teaching made a major contribution to the revival of British wood-engraving in the twentieth century. Biography Rooke was born in Acton, London and he would remain i ...

was their son.

Notes

External links

More works by Rooke
@ ArtNet
Biographical notes
@

Bonhams Bonhams is a privately owned international auction house and one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. It was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son & Neale. This brought t ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rooke, Thomas Matthews 1842 births 1942 deaths 20th-century English painters 19th-century English painters English male painters English watercolourists English landscape painters English designers 20th-century English male artists 19th-century English male artists