Early in the pandemic we started seeing into other homes as never before via Zoom and other platforms, and the background bookcase became an overnight sensation.
'Bookcase credibility' ('What you say is not as important as the bookcase behind you') was launched on Twitter. The Guardian published 'Our new lockdown game: judging people by their bookshelves'. Town and Country awarded celebrities' shelves marks out of 10. The New York Times went further, identifying individual books on the shelves of Tom Hanks and Yo-Yo Ma.
Enjoy browsing these shelves! If you can tell us who painted Mr Armitage, or identify the sitter in the portrait by Lintott, please go to the artwork page and send a message to Art Detective.
Robert Brown (b.1927)
Gouache on paper
H 32.8 x W 20 cm
Royal Watercolour Society
Portrait of a Woman before a Bookcase
Henry John Lintott (1877–1965)
Oil on canvas
H 91.3 x W 70.8 cm
Royal Scottish Academy of Art & Architecture
David Wiggins, Professor of Philosophy (1989–1994) 1994
Eccy de Jonge
Oil on canvas
H 75 x W 59.5 cm
Birkbeck, University of London
Professor and Doctor Ford 1974
Juliet Kathleen Pannett (1911–2005)
Oil on canvas
H 60 x W 75 cm
University of Southampton
John Keats 1821–1823, dated 1821
Joseph Severn (1793–1879)
Oil on canvas
H 56.5 x W 41.9 cm
National Portrait Gallery, London
Edward Ernest Armitage (1872–1948), Town Clerk of Falmouth 1908
unknown artist
Oil on canvas
H 99 x W 72 cm
Falmouth Town Council
Sir James Mathews, MA, LLD, JP 1994
Peter L. Folkes (1923–2019)
Oil on canvas
H 124.3 x W 99.5 cm
Southampton Solent University
Cardinal Carlo Cerri 1669-79
Jakob Ferdinand Voet (1639–c.1700)
Oil on canvas
H 121.3 x W 97.8 cm
The National Gallery, London
Professor Robert Douglas Lockhart (1894–1987) 1964
Herbert James Gunn (1893–1964)
Oil on canvas
H 90 x W 70 cm
University of Aberdeen
Mrs Alington c.1973
Philippa Mary Thomas (b.1919)
Oil on canvas
H 50.6 x W 40.9 cm
Great Bardfield Historical Society
George Davis Hornblower (1864–1951) exhibited 1934
Gerald Festus Kelly (1879–1972)
Oil on canvas
H 109 x W 119 cm
Royal Institution of Cornwall
Explore artists in this Curation
View all 12-
Joseph Severn (1793–1879) -
Philippa Mary Thomas (b.1919) -
Henry John Lintott (1877–1965) -
Peter L. Folkes (1923–2019) -
Jakob Ferdinand Voet (1639–c.1700) -
unknown artist -
Juliet Kathleen Pannett (1911–2005) -
William D. Moore -
Robert Brown (b.1927) -
Gerald Festus Kelly (1879–1972) - View all 12