TEFAF Museum Restoration Fund
The TEFAF Museum Restoration Fund (TMRF) was established in 2012 in order to support and promote the professional restoration and related scholarly research of significant museum artworks. Championing art in all its forms, applications for its grants are open to public museums from all over the world and artworks from any age. Each year, a maximum of €50.000 will be allocated to projects. The Committee of independent experts usually selects two winners to receive each € 25,000 to support their restoration project.
Please find the TMRF Terms, Conditions & Guidelines for 2024 here.
TEFAF Museum Restoration Fund 2025 registration
Please fill out the Registration form here in order to not miss out on TMRF application news later this year!
TEFAF Museum Restoration Fund 2024 Winners
TEFAF has announced that the National Gallery of Ireland (Dublin, Ireland) and the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art (Connecticut, USA) are the recipients of this year’s TEFAF Museum Restoration Fund (TMRF), an annual grant created in support of the international art community’s vital work to preserve artistic and cultural heritage.
The National Gallery of Ireland has received funding from TEFAF to restore Ludovico Mazzolino's (c. 1480 - c. 1530) The Crossing of the Red Sea (1521), which has been part of its collection for over a century. This biblical artwork is remarkable for its size and rarity and because it departs from the conventional rules of perspective.
In its current fragile state, the painting cannot be safely displayed; with severe delamination of the paint layer and soiling to the cracked surface, The Crossing of the Red Sea requires extensive conservation efforts. With TEFAF’s funding, the National Gallery of Ireland will collaborate with experts in Mazzolino’s work to better understand his artistic practice so that this rare large-scale masterpiece can be sensitively restored and made accessible to the visiting public.
The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut, has received funding from TEFAF to restore Venus with a Nymph and Satyr (1600), a marble sculpture by Pietro Francavilla (1548 – 1615) with an intriguing history. Initially, it was commissioned for the gardens of the Villa Zanobi Bracci in Florence, Italy, but in 1750 was sold to Frederick, Prince of Wales, and stored at the royal estates of Kew and Windsor. In the early twentieth century, the sculpture emerged on the commercial art market and in 1925 was transported to the Fogg Museum, Harvard, to be installed in its Renaissance courtyard. However, due to its erotic nature, the sculpture was not displayed there and was instead acquired by Everett Austin Jr., the then-director of the Wadsworth Atheneum.
The sculpture has endured damage and undergone multiple restorations throughout its rich and intriguing history. However, the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art is steadfast in restoring the sculpture's aesthetic appeal and historical significance. With the assistance of the TEFAF Museum Restoration Fund, the museum aims to regain the statue's former glory.
Please find the Press Release on these 2024 winners here.
The committee
The applications are reviewed and selected by an independent panel of experts - since 2021 the panel includes:
Rachel Kaminsky | Private art dealer from New York and former Head of Old Master Paintings at Christie’s. |
Dr. Kenson Kwok | Founder and former Director of the Asian Civilisations Museum and the Peranakan Museum in Singapore. |
Carol Pottasch | Senior restorer/conservator from the Mauritshuis, The Hague. |
Dr. Ashok Roy | Museum scientist, leading international expert on the materials and techniques of European Old Master Paintings, and former Director of Collections at the National Gallery, London. |
Sir Nicholas Penny | Art historian, author, and former Director of the National Gallery, London. |
TEFAF Museum Restoration Fund 2023 presentations
During TEFAF New York 2024 the TMRF presentation was designed in collaboration with 2024 recipient the Neue Galerie New York. The TEFAF Museum Restoration Fund supported the restoration of a painting by Egon Schiele (1890-1918) titled Town among Greenery (The Old City III), dating 1917.
During TEFAF Maastricht 2023 the TMRF booth was designed in collaboration with 2023 recipient the Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp (KMSKA) and powered by Aon. The TEFAF Museum Restoration Fund supported the restoration of a painting by Michaelina Wautier (1604-1689) titled Two Girls as Saints Dorothea and Agnes, dating circa 1650.
