This was the first occasion on which the artist had been given an opportunity to engage on any grand scale with the art of the past and deal with a gallery given over to a permanent collection, and he approached the project in two distinct ways. Firstly, he separated out three lesser-known pictures and gave them pride of place, simultaneously pointing up some of the architectonic aspects of the space. Secondly, he used real and cast books to furnish and describe the interior and the lawn outside, which is visible through the Picture Gallery’s largest window.

Commissioned by the Ruskin School of Art in collaboration with Christ Church, Oxford and supported by funding from Momart.