A church turned into a gallery for a weekend to hold an exhibition of works by an acclaimed Irish artist who married there more than 100 years ago.

All Saints’ Church in Church Road, Highgate, hosted the show of paintings by Sir William Orpen on Saturday and Sunday to assist a fundraising campaign for a statue of the late portrait painter and war artist in his hometown of Stillorgan, near Dublin.

Sir William, whose paintings sell for tens of thousands of pounds, was married in the church in 1901 to Grace Knewstub, who lived in North Hill.

Dominic Lee, leader of the statue campaign, travelled from Stillorgan to give talks on both days about the progression of Sir William’s art.

Jane Havergal, of the church’s fellowship and outreach committee, said: “I think Sir William was a bit like Mozart, he seems to be able to turn a hand to anything.”