Madeleine Clark Wallace Library

After Mrs. Richardson donated The Motherless to Wheaton College in 1922, the work was kept on-campus in the attic of the Madeleine Clark Wallace Library, which housed the Art Gallery for some time. The painting was kept there until 1943, when a steam pipe burst and forced the removal and even disposal of a number of works, including The Motherless. Of the sixty-five paintings donated to Wheaton College by Richardson, only eighteen remain after the steam pipe incident. The Motherless happily survived and is now housed and conserved in the Wheaton College Permanent Collection in the Watson Fine Arts building.

Text Source:

Niederstadt, Leah, and Kayla Malouin. "Collecting Art, Creating A Legacy: A History of the Wheaton College Permanent Collection." Wheaton College, 2010.

Davidson, S. C. and A. H. Murray (1980). Eleanor Norcross, Amy Cross, Edith Loring Getchell. Norton, MA: Wheaton College. (p. 6-9, 21).

Image Source:

http://mdid.wheatoncollege.edu/slideviewer.aspx?iid=13:47062