The Executive Committee of The European Fine Art Foundation (TEFAF) has awarded a total of €50,000 from TEFAF’s Museum Restoration Fund to support the distinct and complex restoration and conservation projects at the National Gallery, UK, and the Museum Volkenkunde, The Netherlands, for the benefit of future generations.

Founded in 2012, the TEFAF Museum Restoration Fund supports the restoration and conservation of culturally significant works within museums and institutions worldwide. Museums and institutions that have attended TEFAF Maastricht are eligible to apply for the grants, which are awarded by an independent panel of experts. Supporting the wider art community is an integral part of TEFAF’s DNA and the Fund is one way the Foundation demonstrates its ongoing dedication to cultural heritage.

The Museum Volkenkunde is part of the National Museum of World Cultures, alongside the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam, and the Africa Museum in Berg en Dal. Together, the museums are custodians of the Dutch National Collection, with over 450,000 objects and 1,000,000 photographs from around the world. The National Museum of World Cultures recently discovered and acquired the unknown and unique screen, ‘View of Deshima in Nagasaki Bay’, by Japanese artist Kawahara Keiga.

The work, a key record of Japanese-Dutch relations, cannot, in its current state, be shown to the public, nor can it travel. The condition of the screen requires a full restoration and, when the conservation process is complete, the screen will function as a gateway object introducing visitors to the full breadth of the Japan collections on Museum Volkenkunde, inviting them to gain a deeper understanding of life in Japan in the early 19th century and the unique role of the Dutch trade during that era.

The National Gallery houses one of the world’s finest collections of paintings, attracting between 5 and 6 million visitors every year, who are taken on a journey through European art over seven centuries, from the 13th century to the early 20th century. ‘Equestrian Portrait of Charles I’ by Anthony van Dyck, which requires a major programme of conservation and restoration, is a famous and much-loved work in the Gallery’s collection.

The grant from TEFAF will support the cleaning and retouching of the painting, which is also currently undergoing structural treatment made possible by the Getty Foundation as part of its Conserving Canvas initiative. The structural treatment includes relining of this large-scale work by experts at the National Gallery, related training opportunities for mid-career professionals, and a culminating workshop to share project results with specialists in the field.

Presentations about each project will be displayed at TEFAF Maastricht.