What’s the hallway missing? Warm brown with some nerve. This old bird study is small in scale but it holds a wall, because the bird sits alone on a pale ground and everything around it goes quiet. Hang it at eye level on a chalky off-white or soft sage wall, in a hallway, above a writing desk, or on the strip of wall beside a bedroom door. It sits happily with linen, aged leather, painted panelling and warm wood. Skip the busy patterned wallpaper behind it, and don’t crowd it with loud colour prints this one needs a little breathing space to read properly. On canvas the pale ground reads softer and slightly more matt.