Retired designer Robert Burns has never seen the Sistine Chapel in Rome, but he sleeps under the Renaissance masterpiece every night.
For the last eight years, Burns has carefully recreated Michelangelo's monumental work on the walls and ceilings of his rented home in Brighton.
Nearly every inch of plaster in Burns' home is covered in hand painted frescoes inspired by 15th Century Italian artists. The years of work were truly a labor of love, Robert and his wife cannot afford to buy their rented home, so if they ever have to move the extensive artwork will be lost.
Burns has dreamed of visiting Italy to see the Sistine Chapel for himself, but was never able to find the money to make the trip. Instead, he decided to bring the Vatican museums to himself. Burns relied upon photographs in coffee table art books he found on sale.
"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," Burns said.
