The design of the new £20 banknote featuring JMW Turner has been unveiled – and will celebrate the artist and his legacy “in all their radiant, colourful, evocative glory”, according to Bank of England Governor Mark Carney.
The new polymer note, which contains sophisticated security features, will be issued for the first time on February 20 2020, as the notes leave cash centres and enter general circulation.
Mr Carney said: “As the new Turner £20 testifies, money can be a work of art in everyone’s pocket.”
The new note depicts Turner’s celebrated painting the Fighting Temeraire – a tribute to the ship HMS Temeraire which played a role in Nelson’s victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.
It was voted the nation’s favourite painting in a 2005 poll run by BBC Radio 4.
Other features of the new banknote include the quote: “Light is therefore colour”, taken from an 1818 lecture by Turner referring to the use of light, shade, colour and tone in his pictures.
Turner’s signature from his will, the document with which he bequeathed many of his paintings to the nation, also appears on the new banknote.
The existing £20 note is the most common of the Bank’s notes in circulation, and also the most forged, making up around 88% of detected banknote forgeries in the first half of this year according to Bank of England statistics.
The Bank said the new note is “the most secure Bank of England banknote yet”.
It incorporates two windows and a two-colour foil to thwart counterfeiters.
Like the polymer £10, the new £20 note will contain a tactile feature to help vision impaired people identify the denomination.
A new £50 note, featuring Alan Turing, will follow in 2021.
People can carry on spending the current paper £20 notes, featuring the economist Adam Smith for now, and the Bank said that notice will be given six months ahead of legal tender status of the paper £20 being withdrawn.The new £20 note will be the first to feature the signature of Sarah John, the Bank’s chief cashier.
She said: “The new £20 is an important part of our commitment to providing banknotes that people can use with confidence.
“Our polymer notes are much harder to counterfeit and, with the £20 being our most common note, this marks a big step forward in our fight against counterfeiting.”
Other features of the new banknote include:
- A large see-through window with a blue and gold foil on the front depicting Margate lighthouse and Turner Contemporary. The foil is silver on the back. The shape of the large window is based on the shape of the fountains in Trafalgar Square.
- A smaller see-through window in the bottom corner of the note, inspired by Tintern Abbey.
- Turner’s self-portrait, painted in around 1799 which is on display in Tate Britain.
- A metallic hologram which changes between the word ‘Twenty’ and ‘Pounds’ when the note is tilted.
- The Queen’s portrait in the see-through window with “£20 Bank of England” printed twice around the edge.
- A silver foil patch with a 3D image of the coronation crown.
- A purple foil patch containing the letter ‘T’ and based on the staircase at the Tate Britain.
For more information about the new £20 note visit www.thenew20.co.uk.
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