Europe’s Largest Painting-by-Numbers recreates UK’s Sistine Chapel
29 July 2015
Europe’s Largest Painting-by-Numbers recreates UK’s Sistine Chapel
A huge counterfeit picture has appeared in The Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich and approximately 1,000 people have been involved in its creation.
The picture, split up into 7,000 parts, is Europe’s largest painting-by-numbers and depicts the famous ceiling of the ‘Painted Hall’ in the World Heritage Site.
This epic painting was started on the 340th birthday of Sir James Thornhill, the artist who created the Painted Hall.
The idea secured considerable public interest, three live broadcasts and 17 stories across the national, London and specialist press, directly increased visitor numbers and engagement on its social feeds and increased donations towards the restoration.
All of which provided the Old Royal Naval College, a charity, with the opportunity to engage people about the importance of the site and the £7m restoration of Thornhill’s Baroque masterpiece – dubbed the UK’s Sistine Chapel.
This worthy counterfeit captured just part of Thornhill’s 5,683ft original and took six days to complete – some 18.5 years quicker than it took Sir James to finish the entire work, but sadly never as great as the original.
The initiative was part of Kallaway’s ongoing work for the World Heritage Site.
To find out more about the Painted Hall visit www.ornc.org.
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