Revelation!

My mother and I stumbled across this extraordinary painting on the wall in a corner of the National Westminster Bank, St. Peter Port, Guernsey. When asked about it, two members of staff admitted they had never even noticed it. The staff at the Tourist Information Office were nonplussed too.

The picture depicts the laying of the first stone of the new St. Peter Port harbour on 24th August 1853 and is painted by George S. Reynolds. He dedicates his work to Peter Stafford Carey Esq., Bailiff of the Island.

Many thousands of people appear in the painting, and no fewer than 316 people attending this ceremony are specifically named, the figures in the painting cross referenced with tiny numbers to the list of names below. They range from surveyors and city dignitaries to titled men and women, and there's even the depiction of a Chief Constable apprehending a small boy in the crowd. 

This is a fantastic work of art, and I would love to see the original. Google has been unable to uncover where I might find it.

The first harbour, known as the Old Harbour, was built in 1275, from wood.