Woman pictured in 'renaissance' New Year’s Eve photograph reveals the story behind it

The man in blue ‘wasn’t casually chilling and reaching for his beer!’

Sweet Sistine: Michelangelo's 'Creation of Adam' (EPA)

The Manchester New Year’s Eve photograph depicting drunken revellers that went viral for its artistic composition has entertained thousands since the start of the year, but now the story behind the photograph has been revealed.

Manchester Evening News photographer Joel Goodman’s picture in which a two men lie in the street - one reaching for a beer while another is restrained by police - has been shared thousands of times after it was tweeted by Roland Hughes, who said it looked “like a beautiful painting”.

The photograph has been likened to Renaissance art by showing the Fibonacci spiral can be applied to the image, which illustrates the golden ratio of the action captured in the street scene, while many have re-worked the photo itself into different styles of paintings.

The woman in the red dress in the picture, who is seen who is seen clutching a bag and reaching her hand out to the man lying on the floor underneath two policemen, has been named by the Manchester Evening News as Hannah Kirby.

Ms Kirby told the newspaper she knows both men focused on in the street scene and helped to shed light on the story behind the photograph.

The man in blue, who many have said appears to be casually reaching for his beer while lying in the middle of the street, had in fact just been knocked to the floor following a fight with police and another man.

“He wasn’t casually chilling and reaching for his beer! There was a bit of commotion went on and he was knocked over but managed to save his bottle of beer,” she told the newspaper.

Ms Kirby added that the man she is reaching her hand out to on the floor, whose hands are being held by police, “didn’t get arrested; he was fine in the end”.

She added that she had no idea she was in the image or that it had gone viral until her father called to tell her the news, which she found “hilarious”.

Greater Manchester Police tweeted that while the picture may have gone viral, it was “just a normal night for cops, captured brilliantly”.