Historic artwork back at manor after renovations

Staff at a National Trust site are "delighted" by the return of two "striking" 19th Century paintings loaned out while conservation work was completed.

Wightwick Manor in Wolverhampton houses a collection of pre-Raphaelite artworks, including Love Among the Ruins by Birmingham-born Sir Edward Burne-Jones.

The 1890s oil painting, described by the trust as "a masterpiece", was loaned to galleries in Italy and Warwickshire for a year while repairs were carried out.

Mrs Nassau Senior, an 1850s work by George Frederick Watts, has also returned to display.

Burne-Jones's painting appeared in exhibitions in the Musei di San Domenico, in Forlì in northern Italy, and at another National Trust property in Warwickshire, the charity said.

The artwork, a copy of an original watercolour by the same artist, depicts a man and a woman embracing amid decaying ruins.

A leading artist in the 19th Century, Burne-Jones also produced a series of stained glass windows at Birmingham Cathedral, which are still there today.

Meanwhile, Watts's portrait of social reformer Jane Elizabeth Hughes, or Mrs Nassau John Senior, appeared in a gallery in Surrey.

The two paintings have now been reinstalled in a room known as the great parlour, where work on the room's timber frame and windows had been taking place.

House and collections manager Helen Bratt-Wyton said she was delighted to have both paintings back after their year away.

"The great parlour hasn't felt quite the same without their familiar striking presence," she said in a statement.

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