Two Turner paintings recovered by gallery officials after being stolen eight years ago are to go back on display in the UK.

The 19th-Century treasures, now valued at �50m, had been taken from the Tate galleries' collection from a display in Frankfurt, Germany.

Shade and Darkness: The Evening of the Deluge and Light and Colour (Goethe's Theory): The Morning After the Deluge will be shown at London's Tate Britain from Wednesday.

The Biblical works have been described by Tate director Sir Nicholas Serota as two of Turner's most significant paintings.

Tate Britain staff announced the discovery last month

Tate officials revealed in December that they had been found intact, albeit without their original frames.

Officials had been reluctant to talk about the recovery amid fears it could hamper the chances of finding a third artwork stolen at the same time.

German artist Caspar David Friedrich's Nebelschwaden is still missing.

Shade and Darkness was found in July 2000, but the discovery was kept secret while investigations continued.

Light and Colour was recovered last month, and the paintings were then brought back to the UK.

They had gone missing from the Schim Kunsthalle in Frankfurt while on loan to the exhibition Goethe and the Visual Arts.

The three thieves and their driver were arrested in 1995 and convicted in Germany four years later.

As a condition of the loan from Tate, the paintings were insured for �12m each in 1995.

Agreement

Following the theft, Tate made a claim and the insurers settled for the full insured sum of �24m.

The move meant the title to the paintings passed to the insurers.

This was subject to an agreement that Tate should have first option to re-purchase them if they were recovered.

By 1998, Tate had become concerned that the paintings had not been recovered.

As a result, a large amount of money in the insurance fund was lying dormant rather than being used for any benefit.

A deal was later struck allowing Tate to buy back the insurers' title for �8m.