Talk about an all-consuming hobby. Robert Burns, a 62-year old retired decorator living in a rented council house in Brighton, has transformed his home into a replica of the Sistine Chapel, covering every wall and ceiling with painted frescoes inspired by the original. According to the Daily Mail, Burns was inspired by the tediousness of other people’s houses. ‘I spent fifteen years of my working life applying exactly the same shade of magnolia to people’s living rooms with a paint roller,’ he said. ‘You could teach a primate to be a half-decent decorator. I needed a creative outlet… One day I saw some photos of the Vatican in Rome and thought, “I could do that.” I never looked back.’ Click through for more and to see photos of Burns’ amazing home.
Burns has never been to Italy to see the original masterpieces, so he has relied on coffee table books picked up at garage sales. He’s also not afraid to tweak the original art or add his own twists where he deems it necessary. In fact, the image of Jesus in his entryway is a dead ringer for Russell Brand, probably because it is. ‘I saw his photo in a newspaper and he was the spitting image of Christ, so I lifted it,’ said Burns. ‘It’s maybe a bit irreverent, but Michaelangelo used real people as models for his angels, so I don’t see any harm in it. In fact I wonder whether Russell might want to buy the picture, like a real Renaissance patron?’
Whether that’s a possibility or not, Burns’ work has already caught the eye of a millionaire who commissioned him to refurbish and repaint the ornate ceiling of his ballroom, something Burns was happy to do. ‘Most people nowadays prefer to live in bland, flat-packed homes,’ he said. ‘We’ve lost the art of proper interior decorating… Maybe they should give me my own daytime TV show where I could teach people how to do Renaissance makeovers,’ Burns said. You know what? We’d totally watch that.
[via Daily Mail]