In 2009, during a visit to Rajasthan, Hilde Lauwaert was deeply moved by the overwhelming splendour of the richly painted rooms in the palace of Bundi. This experience inspired her to create her photo book An Unknown Treasure in Rajasthan: The Bundi Wall-Paintings, with texts by Milo Beach. During the many journeys that followed, through Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh, she photographed countless exquisite murals in temples, palaces, forts, and cenotaphs dating from the early 16th to the late 19th century. In addition, she also documented the more popular paintings in the wealthy merchant houses of the Shekhawati region dating from the late 18th to the 20th century.