Nominations for the face of the UK's new £20 note have closed after two months and Irish artist Francis Bacon is among the front-runners.

The British public have chosen the 436 visual artists - all of them dead - they would most like to see represented on a banknote.

Bank of England governor Mark Carney asked for nominations from the fields of architecture, film-making, craft and design.

The chosen person will be someone who helped to shape British thought, innovation, leadership, values and society.

Some 29,701 people voted.

The long-list

Artists Francis Bacon, Richard Hamilton and Pauline Boty feature on the long list, alongside sculptors Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth.

Artist Francis Bacon in London

Picture by: PA / PA Archive/Press Association Images

Famously, Francis Bacon's painting of his friend Lucian Freud set a new world record price for an art auction when it sold for $142.4 million in 2013. 

Freud himself is also featured on the list.

Film directors Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick were also picked out, as were fashion designers Alexander McQueen and Burberry founder Thomas Burberry. 

Francis Bacon's famous Triptych, 1976

Picture by: Ian Nicholson / PA Archive/Press Association Images

Troubled designer Alexander McQueen, pictured here with model Kate Moss in 2004 

Picture by: Myung Jung Kim / PA Archive/Press Association Images

Final stage

Public focus groups will now work with the Bank to whittle the list down to between 3-5 possibilities, but it is the Bank's Governor who will have the final say.

The decision will be announced next Spring, alongside a concept image showing the character’s portrait as it will appear on the note. 

The note will go into circulation by 2020.