TEFAF and Bank of America Award Restoration Grant to Minneapolis Institute of Art for Renaissance Tapestry
On April 28, 2026, TEFAF and Bank of America announced the Minneapolis Institute of Art as recipient of the 2026 TEFAF Museum Restoration Fund. The grant, in partnership with the Bank of America Art Conservation Project, will fund conservation of the 16th-century Italian tapestry The Meeting of Dante and Virgil, a 5.3-meter work designed by Francesco Salviati and woven 1547–49 in the Medici workshop founded by Cosimo I de’Medici. The tapestry, the only early Medicean example in a public collection outside Italy, will undergo wet cleaning, stabilization, and reweaving at the Midwest Art Conservation Center before returning to view in summer 2026.
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The project marks the first tapestry supported by the fund since its 2012 launch and builds on prior Bank of America collaborations with Mia, including the 2025 restoration of the Black Book of Hours. For collectors and curators, the modular frame designed for future loans signals expanded access to a key Renaissance textile, while the May 16 TEFAF Talk on the restoration highlights growing institutional focus on large-scale textile conservation.
- Artists: Francesco Salviati
- People: Max Bryant, Lucas Giambelluca, Rachel Kaminsky
- Museums: Minneapolis Institute of Art
- Locations: New York, Minneapolis
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