Grandfather finishes his Sistine Chapel in Brighton terrace house ... and he took three times as long as Michelangelo!
BACK in the 16th century, Michelangelo spent a gruelling four years painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
But that is nothing compared with the 12- year project of retired decorator Robert Burns.
The 67-year-old has just finished recreating the Renaissance masterpiece and others in the terrace council home he shares with his wife, having started his very own magnum opus in 2003.
Room by room, the grandfather has transformed the property in Brighton after being inspired by a £2 guide book on the Vatican City which he bought at a car boot sale.
Now the three bedrooms, kitchen, hallway, dining room, living room and bathroom are covered in frescostyle paintings.
But he has made works including Lippi’s The Annunciation and Botticelli’s The Madonna of the Book his own by replacing the original characters with modern celebrities. Mr Burns has declared himself ‘delighted’ with his work. But what about his wife Linda? Apparently she’s a fan too.
‘After I’d started, I asked Linda if she thought it looked like a dog’s breakfast,’ he said. ‘She thought about it and said she thought it was excellent, so I blamed her for me
‘I won’t move unless I win the Lottery’
continuing.’ The project would be a massive feat for even the most experienced artist but is even more remarkable for Mr Burns who has never been taught how to paint or indeed visited Italy.
Instead he has relied on copying art books to keep his work as authentic as possible. Mr Burns’s masterpiece was also a bargain considering its scope, setting him back just £120 for six tins of white emulsion and £225 on coloured acrylic paint. Among the characters who appear in Mr Burns’s work are Nigella Lawson and Simon Cowell, while he has reimagined Chelsea football manager Jose Mourinho as Christ from Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi.
Mr Burns, who retired in 2010, said: ‘I have finally completed the job I set out to do. But it’s really been a labour of love – I’ve enjoyed every step.
‘I was inspired by the Sistine Chapel in particular. Every room was amazing and beautiful.
‘I am delighted it’s finished but to be honest I’ll probably keep adding to it. I am pretty quick now. I can paint a ceiling in a couple of weeks.
‘Some days I spend up to six hours a day painting in the house and I’m very proud to be living here. I don’t plan on moving – unless I win the lottery.’
Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling in the Vatican Palace between 1508 and 1512.