Artist JMW Turner announced as the next face of new £20 bank note
It will be the first time an artist has appeared on a British banknote, after nominations from 30,000 members of the public
JMW Turner and his painting The Fighting Temeraire will feature on the new £20 note when it comes into circulation in 2020.
It will be the first time an artist has appeared on a British banknote, after nominations were made by 30,000 members of the public.
The governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, asked the public to choose a deceased cultural figure they felt deserved the highest honour.
Turner beat off competition from 590 cultural icons including Alfred Hitchcock, Barabara Hepworth, Derek Jarman, Charlie Chaplin and Francis Bacon.
Carney praised the public’s taste and said: “Turner is perhaps the single most influential British artist of all time. His work was transformative, bridging the classical and modern worlds.
“His influence spanned his lifetime and is still apparent today.”
The list was considered by a Bank committee and narrowed down to a shortlist of four - filmmaker
Charlie Chaplin, sculptor Barbara Hepworth, painter William Hogarth and designer Josiah Wedgwood.
The final decision was made by Carney.
One side of the note features a 1799 self-portrait of the artist and the quote “light and therefore colour”, which comes from an 1818 lecture referring to his use of light, shade, tone and colour.
The other features an image of Turner’s famous painting, The Fighting Temeraire.
It also includes Turner's signature on his will, in which he left his paintings to the nation rather than sell them.