Snapchat lens uses augmented reality to bring new JMW Turner £20 note to life

The new £20 pound note being used with a Snapchat augmented reality (AR) lens in front of the original JMW Turner masterpiece The Fighting Temeraire at The National Gallery
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Sean Morrison @seanmorrison_
20 February 2020

Snapchat has released an interactive lens that uses augmented reality to animate the paintings of JMW Turner on the new £20 note.

The photo-sharing app’s new feature coincides with the new polymer bank note entering circulation on Thursday.

Users will be able to bring the image on the note to life using a new Lens, which uses augmented reality to see a full colour, animated version of the painting.

It works by identifying the new note through a Snapchat user's smartphone camera and overlaying the interactive images onto the banknote.

The £20 banknote features a self-portrait of Turner and one of his most celebrated paintings, The Fighting Temeraire
PA

It works in a similar way to how facial filters can be placed over a user's face when using other Lenses in the Snapchat app.

The £20 banknote features a self-portrait of Turner as well as one of his most celebrated paintings, The Fighting Temeraire.

The note will also go on display at The National Gallery - the home of The Fighting Temeraire.

The social media platform confirmed the new Lens would also work on a picture of the note, for those who do not immediately find one in circulation.

The Fighting Temeraire was voted the UK's favourite painting in a poll run by BBC Radio 4.

The note will join the Sir Winston Churchill £5 and the Jane Austen £10 in the Bank of England's first series of polymer notes.

A new polymer £50 featuring Bletchley Park codebreaker Alan Turing will be issued next year.