When the dining room feels over-arranged, this kind of floral bird study helps. It gives the eye one clear place to land, so the table, the chairs and the china stop competing for attention. The gold background warms up a cool wall and makes low evening light look intentional rather than dim. Hang it centred on the wall behind a sideboard, or on a chimney breast where you can see it from the table. It sits happily with velvet, dark wood, brass fittings and deep green or clay-coloured paint. Keep the wall around it fairly clear and skip busy patterned wallpaper directly behind it, or the flowers and feathers lose their edge. As a canvas the surface reads closer to a painting, with no glare across the gold.