House of the Seasons’ preservation efforts continue with acquisition of four oil paintings once owned by home’s original Epperson family
Jefferson, Texas – After more than a century, four recently acquired and restored oil paintings once again hang on the walls of their original home at the House of the Seasons.
The four paintings are reunited with seven others that once belonged to the House of the Seasons’ original owners, the Eppersons. Nineteenth-century Texas legislator and civic leader Col. Benjamin H. Epperson acquired these 11 paintings after he had the family home built in 1872.
After Epperson’s death in 1878, the 11 paintings were removed from the House of the Seasons when the family home was sold for $2,500, according to Richard H. Collins, director of The Calvert K. Collins Family Foundation, which acquired the House of the Seasons in 1974.
Epperson’s widow, Nancy, moved to Ada, Okla., in 1906 with their two children, Benjamin and Jeanie. Furniture and works of art that once decorated the House of the Seasons, including the 11 paintings, went with them. Sometime during the 1960s and early 1970s, four paintings were separated from the family collection when Epperson’s daughter, Jeanie, sold them to a neighboring family. In 1975, The Calvert K. Collins Family Foundation acquired the seven remaining paintings once housed in the House of the Seasons from Jeanie’s estate.
Thirty-eight years later, the foundation located and then acquired the four missing paintings in the spring of 2013. The foundation commissioned art conservator Staska Star from Dallas to restore the four paintings and prepare them for the return to Jefferson.
Now on display at the House of the Seasons in historic Jefferson, Texas, these four paintings join other works of art and furnishings once owned by the house’s original Epperson family. The Calvert K. Collins Foundation continues its mission to preserve the 1872 home as well as promote and increase the visibility of the East Texas city of Jefferson and its other historic homes, buildings and monuments.
ABOUT THE HOUSE OF THE SEASONS:
Located in one of Texas’ oldest towns, the House of the Seasons is a historical home in Jefferson that offers bed and breakfast accommodations with private dining. Original owner Col. Benjamin H. Epperson, a Texas lawyer, political leader, entrepreneur and confidante of Sam Houston, had the home built in 1872. The Calvert K. Collins Family Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation organized and operated exclusively for charitable and educational purposes for disadvantaged children, acquired the property and commissioned a two-year renovation of the House of the Seasons that occurred in 1974-76. Guests have included Lady Bird Johnson, Lawrence Rockefeller, Jack Kemp, President George W. Bush, First Lady Laura Bush and George Grayson, among others. Visit houseoftheseasons.com for more information. Email seasons@houseoftheseasons.com or call 903-665-8000 to reserve space for events such as weddings, receptions, holiday gatherings and dinner parties.
