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Michael Angelo Rooker , British, 1746-1801

Title

The South City Gate, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk

MediumGraphite and watercolour on paper

Dimensions

35.6 x 35.5 cm

SignedMAR(mono)ooker

Credit LinePresented, Mr W.M. Smith, 1872

Object numberNGI.2256

DescriptionRooker entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1769, with ambitions to become a professional oil painter, but by 1780 he had turned to drawing and watercolour. He studied under Paul Sandby in the 1790s, and following the older artist's example, made numerous sketching tours of England. Rooker worked as a theatrical scene-painter at the Haymarket Theatre in London. According to the formulas for creating Picturesque landscapes, local variety and roughness of texture were crucial to the effect of landscape design. Rooker's meticulous brushwork was ideally suited to the translation of crumbling masonry, while his well-observed figures always look appropriate to their context.