NEW artwork has appeared on the side of Reading Gaol just metres from where Banksy’s famous design stands.
The new imagery is similar in style to a Banksy but it is not ywt clear which artist added the sketch to the red bricks.
It is situated on the wall opposite the River Kennett and the Oscar Wilde Memorial Walk around the corner from where Banksy’s ‘Create Escape’ is positioned.
The artwork appears to show a figure with a book leaned up against a column.
A new Banksy-esque artwork has appeared yards from Banksy's own artwork on Reading Gaol
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There is some text adjacent to the figure, which appears to read: “I never saw a man who looked, with such a wistful eye, upon that little tent of blue, which prisoners call the sky, and at every drifting cloud that went, with sails of silver by.”
The text is an excerpt from the poem ‘The Ballad of Reading Gaol’, by Oscar Wilde.
A new Banksy-esque artwork has appeared yards from Banksy's own artwork on Reading Gaol
It is not clear when the new art was added, but residents first spotted the design Saturday, January 8.
It has already been sectioned off to keep passersby from getting close to the painting.
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The new addition comes after it was revealed Banksy offered £10 million to the Ministry of Justice to buy Reading Gaol, which has been up for sale since it closed in 2013.
A new Banksy-esque artwork has appeared yards from Banksy's own artwork on Reading Gaol
The street artist intends to raise the money to turn the prison where Oscar Wilde was incarcerated into an arts centre, according to The Times.
National reports suggest this will be achieved by selling the stencil 'The Great Escape', worth up to £15m, which they used to paint on an outer wall of the building in March.
Banksy told The Times: "I’m passionate about it now.
He continued: "Oscar Wilde is the patron saint of smashing two contrasting ideas together to create magic.
A new Banksy-esque artwork has appeared yards from Banksy's own artwork on Reading Gaol
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"Converting the place that destroyed him into a refuge for art feels so perfect we have to do it.”
The Reading Chronicle previously backed a bid by Reading East MP Matt Rodda to turn the jail into an art hub.
A new Banksy-esque artwork has appeared yards from Banksy's own artwork on Reading Gaol
“There is significant support to redevelop the site and use it for the arts and heritage because of its connection to Oscar Wilde and because it is the burial place of King Henry I, whose tomb is believed to sit among the ruins of Reading Abbey beneath the gaol,” said the MP.
The Ministry of Justice has been attempting to sell the prison, but developer Artisan Real Estate pulled out of plans to buy the prison last year.
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Reading Borough Council bid £2.6m in 2020 to turn the site into a heritage centre and arts hub with a cafe and housing, but the plan was rejected.
Banksy’s team has been asked to confirm if the street artist added the new design to the Gaol.
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