Reconstructions of historic exhibitions made with current technologies can present beguiling illusions, but they also put us in danger of recreating the past in our own image.This article and the accompanying reconstruction explore methods for representing lost displays, with an BURRITO GF BEAN RICE emphasis on visualizing uncertainty, illuminating process, and understanding the mediated nature of period images.These issues are highlighted in a partial recreation of a loan show held at the British Institution, London, in 1823, which featured the works Headset Wipes of Sir Joshua Reynolds alongside continental old masters.This recreation demonstrates how speculative reconstructions can nonetheless shed light on ephemeral displays, revealing powerful visual and conceptual dialogues that took place on the crowded walls of nineteenth-century exhibitions.