School of Art

Contact Details

School of Art
Aberystwyth University
Buarth Mawr
Aberystwyth
Ceredigion
SY23 1NG

Tel: +44 (0)1970 622460

Fax: +44 (0)1970 622461

Email: artschool@aber.ac.uk

Display artist/maker:

Michael 'Angelo' Rooker

Born: 1746, UK, England, London   Died: 1801, London

Engraver and scene designer. Studied under his father, Edward Rooker (1724-1774) and Paul Sandby (1731-1809) at the St. Matrin's Lane Academy. It was Sandby who first added the 'Angelo' into his name, which continued with him throughout his life. He was accepted at the Royal Academy in 1769, and contributed up to 98 drawings to the Academy between his acceptance and his death in 1801. Between 1769 and 1775 he collaborated with his father on the engravings for the frontispieces of the Oxford Almanack. He worked as a draughtsman and engraver throughout the 1770s but by 1780 he had turned to scene painting at George Colman's theatre, as well as drawing and watercolour, after damaging his eyesight in 1778. In 1788 he began making regular walking tours across England, and the colour scaling technique he used for the depiction of masonry was copied by Turner, who bought over a dozen of his paintings after his death. Rooker fell into depression after being dismissed from the theatre in 1797, and died in 1801, never having fully recovered

Objects in the collections associated with this artist/maker



 
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