Michael Angelo Rooker, A.R.A.

This rare and finely preserved watercolor shows the fourteenth-century gatehouse and moat which forms part of Bishop's Palace at Wells, Somerset, a complex of buildings that had been expanding since the early thirteenth century. 

Michael Rooker was born in London, the son of an engraver. In 1769 he was among the first year's intake of students at the newly founded Royal Academy and he studied under Paul Sandby, who is said to have dubbed him Michael 'Angelo' Rooker, with reference to the great master of the High Renaissance.  

Rooker was a sophisticated watercolorist whose detailed technique allowed him not only to capture the textures and forms of buildings but also the subtle shifts of light within a landscape. Of particular charm in the present work are the numerous groups of elegant figures who seem to be enjoying the warm summer weather. 

In the Victoria & Albert Museum there is a watercolor by Rooker that depicts the caves of Wookey Hole near Wells, painted in 1794.¹ We are grateful to Dr. Patrick Conner for suggesting that the present work is likely to date from the same period.

J. Pierce Higgins was a collector of some note, owning, for example, three drawings by Rooker's near contemporary Francis Towne.²  

1. Victoria & Albert Museum, acc. no. P.44-1921 and P. Conner, Michael Angelo Rooker, London 1984, p. 166 

2. R. Stephens, A Catalogue Raisonné of Francis Towne (1739-1816), online, no. FT309, 1960 & 879b