Stolen Turner works found after eight-year hunt

Two masterpieces by JMW Turner which were stolen while on loan abroad in 1994 have been recovered and are today back in the Tate Gallery's collection in London.

The two works - Shade And Darkness: The Evening Of The Deluge, and Light And Colour (Goethe's Theory): The Morning after the Deluge - were taken from the Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt while on loan to an exhibition on Goethe and the visual arts.

A third artwork, German artist Caspar David Friedrich's Nebelschwaden, taken at the same time, is still missing.

The Turner paintings, described as two of the great Romantic landscape artist's most significant works, are intact but were found without their original frames. However, the Tate's former director of programmes, Sandy Nairne, and the Tate's head of conservation, Roy Perry, have both seen the paintings and agree they are genuine and in good condition.

Police have revealed that the paintings were found in Germany but are reluctant to talk further about the recovery for fear of hampering the chances of finding the Friedrich work.

The four people who carried out the theft were arrested in 1995 and convicted in Germany in 1999 but it was not until July 2000 that one of the paintings, Shade and Darkness, was recovered, even though the discovery was kept secret while investigations continued.

Light and Colour was recovered on Monday, and both paintings were brought back to the UK on Wednesday. Insurers paid out £24m in 1995 and the title to the works passed to the insurers. But three years later Tate chiefs were concerned that with the paintings still not recovered, a large amount of cash was lying dormant in the insurance fund rather than being used for any purpose. So a deal was struck where the Tate bought back the insurers' title for £8m.

Tate director Sir Nicholas Serota said today: "These two paintings are among Turner's most important works and, in their references to Goethe's colour theories, show him to be at the forefront of European intellectual inquiry."

The works will go on display at Tate Britain from January 8, 2003.