Bayeux Museum lands 1872 reproduction of tapestry from Rolling Stone’s estate

The photographs took two months to complete and were then painted by artists. Photograph: PR Image

In 1872, a photographer from the South Kensington Museum – now the Victoria and Albert – travelled to France to take pictures of the Bayeux tapestry, the most famous piece of medieval art in the world.

Photography was in its infancy and the images of the 70-metre (230ft) work depicting the 1066 invasion of England by William the Conqueror and the Battle of Hastings, including the killing of King Harold, were produced on glass plates and coloured by hand, a process that took two years.