Biographies: Collectors, Dealers, Family, Fellow Artists, Patrons

Michael Rooker (1746 - 1801)

Fellow artists

Michael Rooker (1746–1801), commonly known as Michael ‘Angelo’ Rooker, was one of the leading topographical watercolourists of the older generation when Girtin was learning the art, and Girtin was inevitably influenced by the older artist. Indeed, Girtin’s Caesar’s Tower, Warwick Castle (TG0239) appears to have been copied from Rooker’s 1794 Royal Academy exhibit (see source image TG0239), whilst The Gatehouse, Battle Abbey (TG0268) employs similar blocks of colour to delineate the play of shadow on stone, even though he did not simply copy the older artist in this case (see TG0277 figure 1).

1794 - 1795

Caesar’s Tower, Warwick Castle

TG0239

1794 - 1795

Caesar’s Tower, Warwick Castle

TG0239

(?) 1795

The Gatehouse, Battle Abbey

TG0268

(?) 1795

The Gatehouse, Battle Abbey

TG0277

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