Man turns council house into Sistine Chapel tribute

Robert Burns, a retired decorator, spent years painting other people’s walls the same boring beige so he decided to spend eight years turning his home into a tribute to the Sistine Chapel. Robert Burns has covered every inside wall with scale replicas of 15th-century frescoes and paintings by Italian masters.



But from the outside, his £86-a-week council house in Brighton looks like any other 1960s terraced home. The 63-year-old said: ‘I spent 15 years of my working life applying exactly the same shade of magnolia to people’s living rooms.

‘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 and thought, “I could do that”. I never looked back.’


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The self-taught artist uses DIY shop emulsion to create his murals, which include a copy of Rafael’s Sistine Madonna, frescoes by artists such as Correggio and a portrait of Jesus inspired by a picture of Russell Brand. Mr Burns said: ‘This may be a council house but I live in style, like the Pope or old Italian nobility. If it’s good enough for the Medicis, it’s good enough for me.’