Michael Angelo Rooker, ARA, British 1746-1801- Oxford: A Stonemason's yard...

Michael Angelo Rooker, ARA,
British 1746-1801-

Oxford: A Stonemason's yard and the Chapel of Merton College;

oil on canvas, 57 x 69.4 cm.

Exhibited:
London, John Mitchell & Son, 1961.

Note:
Patrick Connor, author of 'Michael Angelo Rooker ARA 1746-1801' (V & A, 1984) has confirmed the authenticity of the present work.

Rooker received training from his father, the artist Edward Rooker (c.1712-1774), alongside the landscape artist Paul Sandby (1731-1809). Rooker's skill as an architectural painter, for which he was best known, was likely further informed by his experience as a scene painter at the Haymarket Theatre, allowing him to depict streets and their surrounding buildings with convincing detail and depth. In 1788, he began to make annual tours of the country, producing a large number of watercolours and a few oil paintings of famous abbeys, architectural ruins and public buildings. The present work, dating to c.1775, illustrates his preoccupation with romantic, dilapidated facades, the bustling activity of the stonemasons among the rubble contrasting with the pristine tower of the chapel of Merton College beyond.