TEFAF Museum Restoration Fund
The TEFAF Museum Restoration Fund 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 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.
2021 The British Museum: The restoration of ancient Artefact damaged in 2020 Beirut port explosion
The British Museum and The European Fine Art Foundation (TEFAF) announced an important collaboration to restore eight ancient glass vessels which were severely damaged in the Beirut port explosion in Lebanon on 4 August 2020.
The vessels, from the Roman and early Islamic periods, were on display in the Archaeological Museum at the American University of Beirut (AUB) when the explosion took place. The case they were in blew over from the force of the blast, shattering the glass objects. This new collaboration will see hundreds of the glass fragments painstakingly pieced back together and restored at the conservation laboratories at the British Museum in London.
The AUB Archaeological Museum lay 3.2 km from the port explosion, and sustained heavy damage to its windows and doors. The case the vessels were displayed in contained 72 Roman, Byzantine and Islamic period glass vessels. Most vessels were shattered beyond repair with only 15 being identified as salvageable. Of these, only eight are safe to travel to the British Museum, which has the facilities and expertise to restore and conserve these items.
Press Statement by TMRF Committee member Rachel Kaminsky on nomination “Roman-controlled Lebanon was an early center for glass blowing. The TMRF Selection Committee unanimously chose this project for several reasons: the eight works are museum-quality Roman, Byzantine and Islamic examples of ancient glass from Palestine, Syria and Lebanon; the project includes a training placement for a Lebanon-based conservator at the British Museum, where the works will be conserved and later exhibited; and to support the Archaeological Museum at the American University of Beirut (AUB), the third oldest museum in the Middle East, which sustained heavy damage in the August 2020 port explosion.”
Press Statement by Hidde van Seggelen, Chairman EC “The destruction of these works of art was a terrible consequence of a larger tragedy for the people of Beirut. We are proud to support the restoration of the glass vessels through TEFAF’s Museum Restoration Fund, as these objects hold immense historical, artistic and cultural significance. Their return to their rightful form is a powerful symbol of healing and resilience after disaster.”
2021 Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales to Restore Priceless Manet
The European Fine Art Foundation (TEFAF) is pleased to announce Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales, is to receive €20,000, as the second recipient of this year’s TEFAF Museum Restoration Fund, an annual grant created in support of the international art community’s vital work to preserve artistic and cultural heritage.
With TEFAF’s funding, National Museum Wales will restore Édouard Manet’s (1832-1883) Portrait de Monsieur Jules Dejouy, 1879, a piece the museum attained in 2019 after more than ninety years in the same private family collection. Jules Dejouy (1815-1894) was not only Manet’s older 2 cousin, but also an important figure in the artists life.
This oil on canvas work, originally owned by Dejouy, has remained in a relatively untouched condition, which is rare for a work of this period. The project will involve an exciting technical examination and conservation, leading to an improved understanding of the portrait, its presentation, and legibility as an artwork. Funding from TEFAF will additionally support historical research conducted by National Museum Wales to place Portrait de Monsieur Jules Dejouy into its proper art historical context, particularly as it relates to the other three Manet works in the museum’s collection: Effect of Snow at Petit Montrouge (1870-71), Argenteuil, Boat (1874), and The Rabbit (1881).
Press Statement by TMRF Committee member Ashok Roy on nomination:“Partnering with National Museum Wales on this project of discovery, scholarship, and conservation is a privilege and a pleasure,” said Ashok Roy, former Director of Science and Collections at the National Gallery in London and TEFAF Museum Restoration Fund Committee Member. “The TEFAF Museum Restoration Fund is honored to help preserve this important, and up until now, little-known picture by a cherished artist for generations to come.”