20 — Twenty Pounds
The artwork
Front: Queen Elizabeth II in three-quarter profile, wreathed in the lilac and purple of the Turner series, with "Bank of England" in blackletter and the promise to pay twenty pounds beneath. Four heraldic shields for England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland sit above a colonnaded classical facade. A large see-through window carries a gold Margate lighthouse; a smaller round window repeats the Queen. Signed by Sarah John, Chief Cashier.
Back: Joseph Mallord William Turner, from his own self-portrait of about 1799, in a high collar and cravat, painted more boldly than any Bank note portrait before it. Behind him, a steam tug hauls the warship of The Fighting Temeraire through a smudged sunrise. His signature, taken from his will, sits at the elbow, with the line "Light is therefore colour" from an 1818 lecture.
In circulation
Issued 20 February 2020, the third Bank of England polymer note, taking over from the paper Adam Smith £20 that lost legal tender status on 30 September 2022. Notes bearing this Elizabeth II portrait remain spendable, though from June 2024 they began to be joined and gradually replaced by £20 notes showing King Charles III.
Details
- CurrencyPound
- DenominationTwenty Pounds
- Collectedon the United Kingdom journeys, 1991–2016
- IssuerBank of England
- SeriesPolymer £20, J.M.W. Turner, dated 2018
- SignatureSarah John, Chief Cashier
- SecuritySee-through window with gold Margate lighthouse foil, second round window with the Queen's portrait, shaped clear window, and two clusters of raised dots as a tactile mark
- Dimensions139 × 73 mm, polymer