The Wilson family took great pride in curating impeccable art for their new country estate, Meadow Brook Hall. Matilda and Alfred selected masterpieces from all over the globe to decorate the mansion. Matilda carefully chose places for her prized art all around The Hall. After Matilda died in 1967 and before The Hall opened as a museum in 1971, The Hall actually lost most of its most prized paintings due to Matilda bequeathing some of the art to her family, or the art selling to museums around the world.

In order to return The Hall to the way it looked when it first opened its doors in 1929, the curatorial staff has been locating these lost paintings and replicating them so that the replicas can hang in the original artwork’s place. Not only is the curatorial staff working hard on finding and replicating, but the project includes purchasing frames, labor to hang the paintings, rewiring the lights, and conserving current paintings in our collection.

Our curator, Madelyn, recently filmed two videos explaining what the project entails. You can watch a video of Madelyn introducing Lady Hester Lushington here and Madelyn explaining the need for new picture lights here.

This project, called the Lost Painting Project, is understandably not cheap. Meadow Brook Hall raises every dollar that it spends, and the Lost Painting Project must be totally supported from our friends. Our current fundraising goal is $80,000, and thanks to many generous supporters, we have raised over half our goal!

To donate to the Lost Painting Project, click here. For more information on the Lost Painting Project, including a full list of our generous donors, visit this page.