, as of “ all times ” ’. 1 indeed, turner ’ s legacy endures today through his influence on art for over two centuries, to the prize that bears his name to celebrate british contemporary art, to this magnificent gallery, the turner contemporary. soon turner ’ s work will feature on another 2 billion works of art – the new £20 notes from the bank of england. the champion, newspaper article, published 7 may 1815. all speeches are available online at www. bankofengland. co. uk / news / speeches banknote design the new £20 note celebrates turner, his art and his legacy in all their radiant, colourful glory. the design features turner ’ s self - portrait, from 1799, alongside one of his most eminent paintings, the fighting temeraire. 2 this painting is a tribute to the hms temeraire – which battled with distinction during nelson ’ s victory at trafalgar in 1805 – and an elegy to the decline of sail, showing the great warship being pulled by a steam tug to her last berth to be broken up for scrap. the novelist william makepeace thackeray called it “ as grand a painting as ever figured on the walls of any academy, or came from the easel of any painter ”. 3 the public clearly agrees, voting it britain ’ s greatest painting in a bbc poll in 2005. 4 the fighting temeraire exemplifies turner ’ s innovative use of light, shade, colour and tone. these contributions to the visual arts are captured in the quote – ‘ light is therefore colour ’ – which is from an 1818 lecture by turner. turner rarely signed his paintings, so the signature on the banknote was taken from his will. that is fitting because, in a codicil to that testament, he bequeathed his paintings to the nation, and in doing so made a significant contribution to british society. few turners are locked away in private collections or spread to the four winds. the vast majority are free for the british public to see across some of our greatest galleries. the note references several of these galleries. a small purple foil on the reverse side of the note echoes the spiral staircase at tate britain, which holds most of the turner bequest in the clore gallery. the main foil of the note contains an image of turner contemporary in blue. and the shape of the window around the foil is based on the trafalgar fountains, which are an iconic feature in the square outside the national gallery where the

tradition continues with the new £20. jmw turner will circulate alongside winston churchill on the £5, and jane austen on the £10. in 2021, alan turing will soon replace boulton and watt on the £50. these individuals have advanced british thought, demonstrated exceptional leadership, and more generally helped to shape this diverse society and forge our common values. i ’ m delighted to be joined today to celebrate turner ’ s continuing influence by one of our most eminent artists, someone whom turner has influenced and one of margate ’ s own. as precocious and prolific as turner, a fellow royal academician, the master of confessional art and fittingly, past winner of the turner prize, please welcome tracey emin. book i, chapter 4 “ on the origin and use of money ” of smith, a ( 1776 ), an inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations. a moniker used by kocherlakota. see kocherlakota, n ( 1998 ), “ money is memory ”, journal of economic theory, 81 ( 2 ). all speeches are available online at www. bankofengland. co. uk / news / speeches