In 1995, when she was looking for a major project that would challenge her, she saw an image of the chapel’s ceiling in a magazine. Using a series of published photographs, Joanna Roberts made a cross stitch chart with an outline of each ‘fresco’ element. She used a software package called Xstitch Professional, developed by Dave Peters (Bristol, England). Photographs of the ceiling were scanned and made into a suitable chart. The ceiling design was then manually transferred to her canvas (14-count aida) and filled in using a selection of 45 colours (mostly DMC six-stranded cotton, using two strands at a time).
Lopianowski-Roberts started the work in 1996 and finished in the summer of 2004. She worked a total of 3,572 hours (timed on a stopwatch). The finished product is 200 x 100 cm in size.
See also: miniature needlework
Sources:
- LOPIANOWSKI-ROBERTS, Joanna (2005). In the Footsteps of Michelangelo: The Sistine Chapel Ceiling in Cross Stitch, private publication.
- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5634216/Cross-stitch-recreation-of-Sistine-Chapel-ceiling.html (retrieved 29 May 2016)
Digital source of illustration (retrieved 29 May 2016)
GVE