Bank of America to foot the bill for the restoration of Rossetti’s ‘very best picture’

A pre-raphaelite masterpiece will be restored to its former glory after a major City firm stepped in to pay for expensive conservation work.

Bank of America will take care of the bill, expected to run into thousands of pounds, for restoration of Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s La Ghirlandata which hangs in Guildhall Art Gallery.

The 1873 portrait, which Rossetti described as “my very best picture”, will be taken down in January for analysis before conservators get to work. They plan to restore the frame and remove some of the thick layer of varnish that has been applied to it over the years.

Elizabeth Scott, the City of London Corporation’s Head of Guildhall Galleries, said the grant was “wonderful news”.

She added: “We look forward to returning the painting to its full aesthetic power and, through our international loans programme, working with art galleries at home and abroad to enable it to be appreciated by as many people as possible.”

Since its Art Conservation Project began in 2010, Bank of America has provided more than 120 grants in 30 countries on six continents to conserve paintings, sculptures and archaeological pieces with institutions including the British Museum and the Wallace Collection benefiting.

Graham Packham, chairman of the City of London Corporation’s culture and heritage committee, said: “La Ghirlandata is one of the Guildhall Art Gallery’s most widely admired and best-known art works, and it is entirely fitting that we give this beautiful painting and frame the care and attention that they deserve.”

Rossetti’s fellow Pre-Raphaelite Edward Burne-Jones is currently the subject of a huge Tate Britain exhibition.