An art gallery has welcomed home three Pre-Raphaelite paintings.

Artworks The Tree of Forgiveness and The Beguiling of Merlin, both by Edward Burne-Jones, have been returned to the Lady Lever Art Gallery in Port Sunlight, Wirral after being on loan to the National Portrait Gallery in London for its Pre-Raphaelite Sisters exhibition.

Burne-Jones, born in 1833, was a British artist who assisted designer William Morris in founding Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co.

The two paintings, along with A Dream of the Past: Sir Isumbras at the Ford by John Everett Millais, which had been loaned to National Gallery of Australia in Canberra, were put back on display on Tuesday ready for visitors to enjoy when the gallery reopens its doors to the public.

Millais was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood – whose principles were later followed by Burne-Jones – a group which was inspired by Italian art of the 14th and 15th centuries.

The artworks are part of a large collection of Pre-Raphaelite paintings at the gallery, which was founded by businessman and philanthropist William Hesketh Lever.