There’s a reason William Lewin kept returning to British birds; rooms still respond. This diver stands tall on a warm cream ground, with a rust-red throat and speckled black-and-white feathers doing all the work. Put it up and a plain wall gets a quiet focal point the sort of thing people walk over to look at properly. It suits a hallway, a study wall above a desk, or the gap between two windows in a bedroom. Pair it with painted panelling, aged leather, linen and simple stoneware. Don’t crowd it with bright modern graphics or heavy pattern; the cream background needs breathing room to read as calm rather than cluttered. As a canvas it reads softer and more painterly, with no glare from across the room.