TWO galleries have joined forces to bring three important works by celebrated Warrington artists to the town.

Warrington Museum and Art Gallery is working with Liverpool’s Walker Art Gallery on the project after being awarded a grant from The Weston Loan Programme with Art Fund.

The gallery is one of 13 venues across the country to participate in the funding scheme created by the Garfield Weston Foundation and Art Fund, which aims to support the wider sharing of national collections with museums across the whole of the UK.

The funding comes at the ideal time as the museum and gallery celebrates three landmark dates this year.

They include the 170th anniversary of the founding of the museum in May, the 170th anniversary of the opening of the original museum in November and the official 250th anniversary of the Royal Academy, which enjoyed close links with Warrington Art School students, in October.

These dates come hot on the heels of the 160th anniversary of the opening of the building, which took place in December last year.

The three pieces coming to the museum on loan from the Walker Art Gallery celebrate the work of two notable Warrington artists, Sir Luke Fildes and John Warrington Wood.

Both artists were students at Warrington’s School of Art, which was originally housed in the grade II listed building the museum occupies today.

Born in Liverpool, Sir Luke Fildes began his successful painting career after training at the school.

The first of his paintings to come to the museum is the portrait of his wife, Fanny Fildes.

This beautiful portrait helped Fildes secure his reputation as a leading portrait artist, which eventually led to royal commissions from both Edward VII and George V.

This portrait will accompany another of Fildes’ paintings, The Widower, which was first exhibited at the Royal Academy, and helped Fildes gain further recognition as a social realist painter.

The third painting to be borrowed from the Walker Art Gallery is called Oxen Drawing a Block of Stone to the Studio of John Warrington Wood in Rome 1872, by Enrico Coleman.

This piece captures an important event in the life of Warrington School of Art pupil, John Warrington Wood, who would go on to carve the block depicted in Coleman’s work into the statue of St Michael overcoming Satan.

This impressive statue was the impetus for building the main art gallery in Warrington Museum in 1877, and can still be seen in the entrance of the museum today.

Janice Hayes, heritage manager at Culture Warrington – the charity that runs Warrington Museum and Art Gallery and also Pyramid and Parr Hall – said: “We are thrilled to be able to celebrate Warrington’s artistic history by borrowing these exceptional pieces from the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool.

“These prominent artists trained within the walls of this historic building, before going on to exhibit at The Royal Academy, securing international recognition – and, in the case of Luke Fildes, even receiving the royal seal of approval.

“To be able to showcase their work right here where they trained is a real honour and it’s a fantastic way to put the museum, which was once recognised as the earliest public museum in the North West, back on the cultural map.

“We would like to thank the Walker Art Gallery for allowing us to borrow these items, and also the Garfield Weston Foundation and Art Fund for enabling this to happen.”

The grant will be used to fund the costs of transporting the works to and from Liverpool and support a range of activities linked to the exhibition.

Further funding has also been provided from Arts Council England.

The paintings will be available to view at Warrington Museum and Art Gallery from Saturday and will remain on display until March 2019.

They will join the museum’s ‘Warrington Art Treasures’ exhibition, which already features many of the most celebrated works by artists such as John Warrington Wood, Luke Fildes and Henry Woods.