PRESS RELEASE
DECEMBER
2012
The portraits of William and Elizabeth
James by William Hogarth, 1744, oil on
canvas, in the collection of the Worcester
Art Museum in Massachusetts.
TEFAF MUSEUM RESTORATION FUND
TEFAF MUSEUM RESTORATION FUND GRANTS
AWARDED TO AMERICAN AND BRITISH MUSEUMS
Helvoirt, 19 December 2012. The Worcester Art Museum in the United States and the Ashmolean Museum in
the United Kingdom are to receive grants from the TEFAF Museum Restoration Fund to help them carry out
important conservation projects. The Fund was set up by TEFAF Maastricht, as one of its 2012 Silver Jubilee
initiatives and provides up to €50,000 each year to help institutions around the world conserve works of art in their
collections. A panel of independent, international experts considered many applications from museums before
selecting the two winning projects, which will each receive €25,000. TEFAF Maastricht will take place at the MECC
(Maastricht Exhibition and Congress Centre) in the southern Netherlands from 15 to 24 March 2013.
The Worcester Art Museum in Worcester, Massachusetts is to restore a pair of portraits by the 18th century
British artist William Hogarth. The pendant portraits of William and Elizabeth James, painted by Hogarth in
1744, were acquired by the museum more than a century ago but have never been comprehensively treated or
technically evaluated and will benefit greatly from a conservation project. The work will enable the Worcester Art
Museum to feature them prominently in Hogarth and the English Character, an exhibition planned for 2016, and
ultimately to return these cornerstone works to its permanent galleries. The restoration will allow those viewing
them to experience the full impact of the paintings as exquisite works of art without any concerns about their
condition. The newly conserved pictures will reveal more authentic palettes and broader tonal ranges that, when
reunited with their newly conserved frames, will enable viewers to have the pleasing experience intended by
Hogarth.
William Hogarth (1697-1764) was one of the masters of British painting. Although best known for his biting satires
of society that were popularised in engravings, he was also a skilled portraitist. In these paintings he captured the
confidence of William James, a country squire from the English county of Kent, and his wife Elizabeth, both proud
of their fashionable London clothes.
The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford is to carry out a conservation project on two candelabra by the Italian artist
Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778). The intricately carved candelabra are some of the finest examples of
neo-classical sculpture in the United Kingdom. They form a key element of the collections displayed in the
Ashmolean’s impressive Randolph Sculpture Gallery and are of international significance. They were purchased
from Piranesi by Sir Roger Newdigate, who made
The Piranesi candelabra in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
and (right) sulphation damage and surface soiling.
two Grand Tours in 1739-40 and 1774-75. The candelabra were shipped in component form from Italy to Oxford
with instructions for their re-assembly provided by Piranesi. The candelabra have become structurally unsound
because the plaster bonding in the joints between each vertical section has failed during the 100 years since they
were last restored. Until they were re-plinthed on pallets in 1991, these vulnerable objects were traditionally moved
by masons dragging them across the floor, using winches, rather than lifting them. Although they are now mounted
on pallets, disguised as plinths, moving them still puts them at risk as they comprise many loose components. For
that reason the museum has developed this project to dismantle, conserve and structurally stabilize these
remarkable objects.
The international panel of experts which made the decisions is chaired by Professor Dr Henk van Os of the
University of Amsterdam, who is Chairman of the Antiquairs Vetting Committees at TEFAF. Its other members are
Rachel Kaminsky, a private art dealer from New York who was formerly head of the Old Master paintings
department at Christie’s, David Bull, a paintings restorer, and Dr Kenson Kwok, the former and founding director of
the Asian Civilisations Museum and the Peranakan Museum in Singapore
The panel based its decision on the following general criteria.
■ How will the art world benefit from this project?
■ How will the public benefit from this project?
■ How significant will the donation be for this museum/project?
The panel decides whether the funds should be allocated to a single museum project or split between two.
Museums applying for this funding must have visited TEFAF Maastricht in the year of the application, the work of
art restored must be exhibited at TEFAF when the project is completed and must be on public view for at least two
years afterwards.
The TEFAF Museum Restoration Fund was created out of the desire to give something back to the large number
of museums whose representatives regularly visit the Fair. It aims to make a contribution to the conservation of
objects that are in those museums’ collections and to support the sharing of knowledge about conservation, not
only with other museums, but also with the general public.
Follow TEFAF Maastricht on Facebook to find out the current status of the projects or learn more about them on
our website www.tefaf.com
Note for Editors · Go to www.tefaf.com under PRESS for press releases and high resolution images.
Principal Sponsor
Netherlands · Global
The European Fine Art Foundation
Broekwal 64
5268 HD HELVOIRT
The Netherlands
Titia Vellenga · Madelon Strijbos
+31 411 64 64 40
press@tefaf.com
www.tefaf.com
UK
Cawdell Douglas
10-11 Lower John Street
LONDON W1F 9EB
United Kingdom
Diana Cawdell · Will Bennett
+44 2074 39 28 22
press@cawdelldouglas.com
USA· Canada
Netherlands Board
of Tourism & Conventions
215 Park Avenue South
Suite 2005 · New York
NY10003 · USA
Briana Papa
+1 917 720 1279
bpapa@holland.com
www.holland.com
Finland · Norway · Sweden
Avenue Franklin Roosevelt 84
1050 BRUSSELS
Belgium
Birgitta Lemmel
+32 498 12 22 60
birgitta.lemmel@skynet.be
Art, more than an Asset
TEFAF shares its view of art as more than an asset with its principal sponsor, AXA Art. Their partnership provides
art collectors with unique expertise covering the full range of risk prevention, conservation, recovery and
restoration, to enable them to maintain their collections in the best possible condition. www.axa-art.com
Note for Editors · Go to www.tefaf.com under PRESS for press releases and high resolution images.
Principal Sponsor
Netherlands · Global
The European Fine Art Foundation
Broekwal 64
5268 HD HELVOIRT
The Netherlands
Titia Vellenga · Madelon Strijbos
+31 411 64 64 40
press@tefaf.com
www.tefaf.com
UK
Cawdell Douglas
10-11 Lower John Street
LONDON W1F 9EB
United Kingdom
Diana Cawdell · Will Bennett
+44 2074 39 28 22
press@cawdelldouglas.com
USA· Canada
Netherlands Board
of Tourism & Conventions
215 Park Avenue South
Suite 2005 · New York
NY10003 · USA
Briana Papa
+1 917 720 1279
bpapa@holland.com
www.holland.com
Finland · Norway · Sweden
Avenue Franklin Roosevelt 84
1050 BRUSSELS
Belgium
Birgitta Lemmel
+32 498 12 22 60
birgitta.lemmel@skynet.be