This is the only surviving female nude by Velázquez — and one of the very few Spanish nudes from the Golden Age at all.
A woman lies on grey silk, her back to us, looking into a mirror held by Cupid.
Her face is visible in the reflection, deliberately blurred, deliberately unresolved.
She could be anyone.
It is named after Rokeby Park in Yorkshire, where it hung in the 19th century before coming here.
In 1914, suffragette Mary Richardson walked into the gallery and slashed it seven times with a meat cleaver, in protest at the arrest of Emmeline Pankhurst.
The painting was repaired, and faint traces of the cuts remain if you know where to look.
Fun fact: Richardson said she objected to men standing all day gazing at it.
The painting survived, and continues to be gazed at.
It is one of the most visited works in the gallery.
