Gold Leaf Peacock Canvas Print

When the living room feels over-arranged, this kind of bird study helps. It gives the eye one clear place to land, and the rest of the room can settle down behind it. Gold runs right through the tail and background, so warm lamplight and daytime sun both pick something up off the surface. Hang it above a sideboard, in an entryway, or on the narrow wall between two windows where the height works hard. Pair it with dark wood, velvet, brass and cream walls. Keep the wall around it clear busy patterned wallpaper or a crowd of small frames will fight the gold and flatten the whole thing. As a canvas the thick paint and plaster texture read as one continuous surface.

There’s a reason painters kept returning to the peacock; rooms still respond. Put this on the wall and a warm, quiet room gets a centre of gravity the sandy plaster background melts into cream and beige walls while the deep blue and teal bird does all the talking. Hang it above a sofa, a sideboard or a dining table, at a width that lets the long tail stretch out. It sits happily with velvet, aged leather, brass or gold fittings and dark timber. Don’t crowd it with lots of small busy frames on the same wall, and don’t fight it with a strong patterned wallpaper it needs a calm surface to lean against. As a canvas the cracked plaster texture reads as a real painted surface from across the room.