More than $1 million worth of art in Whanganui's Sarjeant Gallery collection can now be restored after the securing of a major grant.
The Stout Trust grant of nearly $125,000 will go towards restoring the gallery's largest work, The Flight Into Egypt, painted in 1884 by English artist Frederick Goodall.
Preservation work will also be done on the large original frame of an 1892 pastel drawing The Fountain of Youth by another English artist, Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones.
Both works are of international significance.
Curator of collections Jennifer Taylor Moore said the restoration work would take up to two years and could not have been undertaken without the grant.
The timing of the grant means the paintings should be ready to hang in the re-developed Sarjeant Gallery complex at Queen's Park, where the 97-year-old Sarjeant Gallery heritage building is unoccupied and awaiting earthquake strengthening as part of a $34.9m redevelopment that includes construction of a new wing and storage facility.
Ms Taylor Moore said The Flight Into Egypt - a 4m-wide by 2.6m-high painting, which until recently hung in a rear stairwell in the gallery - would go to the Auckland Art Gallery's conservation unit early next year for repairs.
"Due to its considerable size and weight, the painting remained on permanent display at the Sarjeant Gallery for 96 years and is now in dire need of conservation," she said.
The treatment will consolidate cracking and lifting paint over a third of the painting and fill any paint losses, vastly improving its appearance and condition.
Ms Taylor Moore said the Auckland staff were among the most experienced and highly qualified conservators in the country.
The ornate frame of The Flight Into Egypt is going to Manawatu for restoration by managing director of Manawatu Museum Services Detlef Klein.
The intricate task of restoring the frame to its former glory is expected to take up to two years and will include repairs to gilded decoration that is lifting off and restoration of gold leaf gilding.
Ms Taylor Moore said the frame was unique in New Zealand and designed specifically for the painting, with Egyptian references.
The Fountain of Youth was conserved in 2008 by the Auckland Art Gallery but Ms Taylor Moore said the painting could not be put back in its original frame due to the frame's instability and the cost of restoration.
The frame will be worked on by Mr Klein and will also take up to two years.
The Stout Trust was set up with the proceeds of the J D Stout Charitable Estate to contribute to New Zealand's cultural, environmental and scientific heritage.