The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is an

art museum An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own Collection (artwork), collection. It might be in public or private ownership, be accessible to all, or have restrictions in place. Although ...

Boston, Massachusetts Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, which houses significant examples of

European European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...

, Asian, and

American art Visual art of the United States or American art is visual art made in the United States or by U.S. artists. Before colonization, there were many flourishing traditions of Native American art, and where the Spanish colonized Spanish Colonial arc ...

. Its collection includes paintings, sculpture, tapestries, and decorative arts. It was founded by

Isabella Stewart Gardner Isabella Stewart Gardner (April 14, 1840 – July 17, 1924) was an American art collector, philanthropist, and patron of the arts. She founded the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Gardner possessed an energetic intellectual curiosity ...

, whose will called for her art collection to be permanently exhibited "for the education and enjoyment of the public forever." The museum opened in 1903. An auxiliary wing designed by Italian architect

Renzo Piano Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable works include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), Kansai International Airport in Osaka (1994), the Whitney ...

, adjacent to the original structure near the

Back Bay Fens The Back Bay Fens, often simply referred to as "the Fens," is a parkland and urban wild in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was established in 1879. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted to serve as a link in the Emerald Necklace park syst ...

, was completed in 2012. In 1990, thirteen of the museum's works were stolen; the crime remains unsolved, and the works, valued at an estimated $500 million, have not been recovered.

History

The museum was built in 1898–1901 by

(1840–1924), an American art collector, philanthropist, and patron of the arts in the style of a 15th-century Venetian palace. It opened to the public in 1903. Gardner began collecting seriously after she received a large inheritance from her father in 1891. Her purchase of

Johannes Vermeer Johannes Vermeer ( , ; see below; also known as Jan Vermeer; October 1632 – 15 December 1675) was a Dutch painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle-class life. He is considered one of the greatest painters of the Dutch ...

's '' The Concert'' (c. 1664) at auction in Paris in 1892 was her first major acquisition. In 1894,

Bernard Berenson Bernard Berenson (June 26, 1865 – October 6, 1959) was an American art historian specializing in the Renaissance. His book ''The Drawings of the Florentine Painters'' was an international success. His wife Mary is thought to have had a large ...

offered his services in helping her acquire a

Botticelli Alessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi ( – May 17, 1510), better known as Sandro Botticelli ( ; ) or simply known as Botticelli, was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. Botticelli's posthumous reputation suffered until the late 1 ...

. With his help, Gardner became the first American to own a painting by the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

master. Berenson helped acquire nearly 70 works of art for her collection. Tizian 085

After her husband John L. Gardner's death in 1898, Isabella Gardner realized their shared dream of building a suitable space to exhibit their treasures. She purchased land in the marshy

Fenway Fenway Park is a ballpark located in Boston, Massachusetts, less than one mile from Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home field of Major League Baseball's (MLB) Boston Red Sox. While the stadium was built in 1912, it was substantia ...

area of Boston, and hired architect Willard T. Sears to build Fenway Court, modeled on the Renaissance palaces of

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

. Gardner was deeply involved in every aspect of the design, leading Sears to quip that he was merely the structural engineer making Gardner's design possible. After the construction of the building was complete, Gardner spent a year installing her collection in a way that evokes intimate responses to the art, mixing paintings, furniture, textiles and objects from different cultures and periods among well-known European paintings and sculpture. The museum opened on January 1, 1903, with a grand celebration featuring a performance by members of the

Boston Symphony Orchestra The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five (orchestras), Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in ...

and a menu that included champagne and doughnuts. In 1909, the Museum of Fine Arts moved to its new home close by. During Gardner's lifetime, she welcomed artists, performers, and scholars to Fenway Court to draw inspiration from the rich collection and dazzling Venetian setting, including

John Singer Sargent John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 15, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian era, Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil ...

Charles Martin Loeffler Charles Martin Tornov Loeffler (January 30, 1861 – May 19, 1935) was a German-born American violinist and composer. Family background Charles Martin Loeffler was born Martin Karl Löffler on January 30, 1861, in Schöneberg near Berlin to par ...

, and

Ruth St. Denis Ruth St. Denis (born Ruth Dennis; January 20, 1879 – July 21, 1968) was an American pioneer of modern dance, introducing eastern ideas into the art and paving the way for other women in dance. She was inspired by the Delsarte advocate Gene ...

, among others. Gardner also occasionally hosted artists' exhibitions within Fenway Court, including one of Anna Coleman Ladd. Today, the museum's contemporary

artist-in-residence Artist-in-residence (also Writer-in-residence), or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs that involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs that pr ...

program, courtyard garden displays, concerts, and innovative education programs continue Isabella Gardner's legacy. When Gardner died in 1924, her will created an endowment of $1 million and outlined stipulations for the support of the museum, including the charge that her collection be permanently exhibited "for the education and enjoyment of the public forever" according to her aesthetic vision and intent. Gardner appointed her secretary and the former librarian of the

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the list of largest art museums, 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 painting ...

, Morris Carter (1877–1965) as the museum's first director. Carter catalogued the entire collection and wrote Gardner's definitive biography, ''Isabella Stewart Gardner and Fenway Court''.

George L. Stout George Leslie Stout (October 5, 1897 – July 1, 1978) was an American art conservation specialist and museum director who founded the first laboratory in the United States to study art conservation, as well as the first journal on the subject of ...

(1897–1978) was the second director. The father of modern conservation, Stout ensured the long-term preservation of the collection and historic structure. Rollin Van Nostrand Hadley (1927–1992) became the third director in 1970. Hadley increased visiting hours, instituted the Membership Program and added a cafe. Hadley also wrote several catalogs for the museum, produced ''Fenway Court'', an annual scholarly publication, and wrote the 1987 book ''The Letters of Bernard Berenson and Isabella Stewart Gardner'' (Northeastern University Press). Anne Hawley was director from 1989 until 2015. Peggy Fogelman, the Norma Jean Calderwood Director, began her tenure as director of the museum in 2016.

Art theft of 1990

Early in the morning of March 18, 1990, two thieves disguised as police officers robbed the museum of thirteen works worth some $500 millionthe greatest known property theft in history. Among the works was '' The Concert'' (c. 1664), one of only 34 known by

and thought to be the most valuable unrecovered painting at over $200 million. Also missing is ''

The Storm on the Sea of Galilee ''Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee'' is a 1633 oil-on-canvas painting by the Dutch Golden Age painter Rembrandt van Rijn. It is classified as a history painting and ranks among the largest and earliest of Rembrandt's works. Purchased b ...

'' (1633),

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (; ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), mononymously known as Rembrandt was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and Drawing, draughtsman. He is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in ...

's only known seascape. Some of the canvases were crudely cut out of their

stretchers A stretcher, gurney, litter, or pram is an apparatus used for moving patients who require medical care. A basic type (cot or litter) must be carried by two or more people. A wheeled stretcher (known as a gurney, trolley, bed or cart) is often ...

. The works have not been recovered. The museum initially offered a reward of $5 million for information leading to recovery of the art, doubled in May 2017 to $10 million. Empty frames hang in the Dutch Room gallery as placeholders for the missing works. The selection of stolen works puzzled experts, as more valuable artworks were present in the museum. According to the FBI, the stolen artwork was moved through the region and offered for sale in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

during the early 2000s. They believe the thieves were members of a

criminal organization In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

based in the

mid-Atlantic Mid-Atlantic or Mid Atlantic can refer to: *The middle of the Atlantic Ocean *Mid-Atlantic English, any mix between British and American English *Mid-Atlantic Region (Little League World Series), one of the United States geographic divisions of the ...

and

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

. The statute of limitations on the theft has expired but criminal charges could be laid if an individual is found to be in possession of stolen property. In April 2021,

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

began streaming a four-part documentary about the theft: '' This Is a Robbery: The World’s Biggest Art Heist.''

Extension and preservation project

In 2002, after a two-year master planning process, the museum's board of trustees determined that a new wing was necessary to preserve the historic building and to provide improved spaces for programs that continue Isabella Gardner's legacy. In 2004,

Pritzker Prize The Pritzker Architecture Prize is an international award presented annually "to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment which has produced consisten ...

–winning architect

and the Renzo Piano Building Workshop (Genoa, Italy) were selected to design the new wing. In 2009, the final approval for the expansion project was given, but there was much debate about the carriage house. The carriage house, originally built in 1907, was argued to be important for the intent of the first owners, yet the building was torn down in hopes of having the museum preserve the main building. In 2016, the new wing was praised for its appearance by the

Boston Society of Architects The Boston Society for Architecture (formerly known as the Boston Society of Architects) (BSA) is a nonprofit membership organization committed to architecture, design and the built environment. History On June 20, 1867, approximately 50 archi ...

and awarded a medal for its beauty. The design for the new wing is conceived as a respectful complement to the historic Museum building in scale, form, and materials. The project adds consisting of two new buildings. The first building attaches to the original museum and takes on the appearance of four stories in glass and copper. The second building is smaller and is used for greenhouses and living quarters. The new expansion includes spaces for visitor services, concerts, special exhibitions, and education and landscape programs, furthering Isabella Gardner's legacy in art, music, and horticulture while reducing 21st-century strain on the collection and galleries. The project was completed in 2012, and cost $118 million.

Design

Built to evoke a 15th-century Venetian palace, the museum building provides an atmospheric setting for Gardner's inventive creation. Gardner hired Willard T. Sears to design the building near the marshy

to house her growing art collection. Inside the museum, three floors of galleries surround a garden courtyard blooming with life in all seasons. The fourth floor was Gardner's private apartments, now used for administration, and rarely for exhibits. It is a common misconception that the building was brought to Boston from Venice and reconstructed. It was built from the ground up in Boston out of new materials, though it incorporates numerous architectural elements removed from European Gothic and Renaissance structures, worked into the design of the turn-of-the-century building. Special tiles were custom designed for the floors, modern concrete was used for some of the structural elements, and antique capitals sit atop modern columns. The interior garden courtyard is covered by a glass roof, with steel support structure original to the building. The Gardner Museum is much admired for the intimate atmosphere in which its works of art are displayed and for its flower-filled courtyard. Most of the art pieces are unlabeled, and the generally low lighting is more akin to a private house than a modern art museum. In 1983, the museum was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. In 2013, the museum was designated a

Boston Landmark A Boston Landmark is a designation by the Boston Landmarks Commission for historic buildings and sites throughout the city of Boston based on the grounds that it has historical, social, cultural, architectural or aesthetic significance to New Engla ...

by the

Boston Landmarks Commission The Boston Landmarks Commission (BLC) is the historic preservation agency for the City of Boston. The commission was created by state legislation in 1975. History Urban renewal in the United States started with the Housing Act of 1949, part of Pres ...

Collection

Gardner collected and carefully displayed a collection of more than 7500 paintings, sculptures, furniture, textiles, silver, ceramics, 1500 rare books, and 7000 archival objects from ancient Rome, Medieval Europe, Renaissance Italy, Asia, the Islamic world, and 19th-century France and America. Among the artists represented in the galleries are Titian, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli, Manet, Degas, Whistler and Sargent. The first

Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...

to enter an American collection is housed in the Yellow Room. Well-known artworks in the museum's collection include Titian's ''

The Rape of Europa In Greek mythology, Europa (; , ''Eurṓpē'', ) was a Phoenician princess from Tyre, Lebanon, Tyre and the mother of Basileus, King Minos of Crete. The continent of Europe is named after her. The story of her abduction by Zeus in the form of a ...

'', John Singer Sargent's ''El Jaleo'' and ''Portrait of Isabella Stewart Gardner'', Fra Angelico's ''Death and Assumption of the Virgin'', Rembrandt's ''Self-Portrait, Aged 23'', Cellini's ''Bindo Altoviti'', Piero della Francesca's ''Hercules'', and Botticelli's '' The Story of Lucretia''. The archives hold more than 7,000 letters from 1,000 correspondents, including

Henry Adams Henry Brooks Adams (February 16, 1838 – March 27, 1918) was an American historian and a member of the Adams political family, descended from two U.S. presidents. As a young Harvard graduate, he served as secretary to his father, Charles Fran ...

T.S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist and playwright.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biography''. New York: Oxford University ...

Sarah Bernhardt Sarah Bernhardt (; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including by Alexandre Dumas fils, ...

, and Oliver Wendell Holmes, in addition to travel albums, dealer receipts, and guest books. The galleries also contain Gardner's little-known but extensive book collection that includes early-print editions and manuscripts of

Dante Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

, works by miniaturist

Jean Bourdichon Jean Bourdichon (1457 or 1459 – 1521) was a French painter and manuscript illuminator at the court of France between the end of the 15th century and the start of the 16th century, in the reigns of Louis XI of France, Charles VIII of France, Lo ...

incunables An incunable or incunabulum (: incunables or incunabula, respectively) is a book, pamphlet, or broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. The specific date is essentially arbitrary, but the ...

, and illuminated manuscripts.

Current programs

The museum regularly produces scholarly exhibitions, lectures, family programs, and symposia that provide insights into the historic collection. Through the Artist-in-Residence program, artists in many disciplines are invited to live at and draw inspiration from the museum. The museum often hosts exhibitions of contemporary art, performances, and programs by those selected. The Gardner's concert series welcomes musicians and emerging artists to perform classical masterpieces, new music, and jazz on Sunday afternoons and select Thursday evenings. The musical program is also available through concert videos, audio recordings, and a free classical music podcast. The Gardner is part of the Monuments Men and Women Museum Network, launched in 2021 by the

Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art The Monuments Men and Women Foundation, formerly known as the Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art, is an American IRS-approved 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, which honors the legacy of those who served in the Monuments, Fi ...

. The Gardner's central courtyard features constantly rotating seasonal floral displays which reflect Isabella's personal tastes and passions in gardening. Most of the plants which are displayed are grown and kept off-site in the museum's nursery, and are then later shipped to the museum for each seasonal display. Some current seasonal displays include; Hanging Nasturtiums, Hydrangeas, and Midwinter Tropics. The Museum offers free admission to all those named Isabella, for life.

Recent exhibitions

Exhibitions

The Gardner's exhibitions since 2002 include:

Contemporary art exhibitions

The Gardner has also hosted the following exhibitions of contemporary art.

Gallery

File:Piero, hercules.jpg, ''

Hercules Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures. The Romans adapted the Gr ...

'' by

Piero della Francesca Piero della Francesca ( , ; ; ; – 12 October 1492) was an Italian Renaissance painter, Italian painter, mathematician and List of geometers, geometer of the Early Renaissance, nowadays chiefly appreciated for his art. His painting is charact ...

(after 1465) File:Michelangelo, Study for the Colonna Pietà.jpg, ''Study for the

Colonna Pietà Colonna is an Italian word for column. The name Colonna may refer to: People * Colonna family, a noble family from Rome * Colonna (surname), an Italian surname Places ;Italy * Colonna, Lazio, a ''comune'' in the Province of Rome * Colonna, City o ...

'' (c. 1538) by

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...

File:Domenico Tintoretto - Lady in Black.jpg, ''Lady in Black'' (1598–99) by

Tintoretto Jacopo Robusti (late September or early October 1518Bernari and de Vecchi 1970, p. 83.31 May 1594), best known as Tintoretto ( ; , ), was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Venetian school. His contemporaries both admired and criticized th ...

File:Rembrandt van Rijn 198.jpg, ''Self-portrait, aged 23'' (1629) by

File:EL JALEO-SINGER.jpg, ''

El Jaleo ''El Jaleo'' is a large painting by John Singer Sargent, depicting a Spanish Romani dancer performing to the accompaniment of musicians. Painted in 1882, it currently hangs in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, in Boston. Background The painti ...

'' (1882) by

File:Anders Zorn - Isabella Stewart Gardner in Venice - P17e10 - Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.jpg, ''

in Venice'' (1894) by

Anders Zorn Anders Leonard Zorn (18 February 1860 – 22 August 1920) was a Swedish artist who attained international success as a painter, sculptor, and etching artist. His portrait subjects include King Oscar II of Sweden and three President of the Un ...

File:Piermatteo d'Amelia - Annunciation, c. 1475.jpg, ''Annunciation'' (ca. 1485) by Piermatteo Lauro de' Manfredi da Amelia

References

External links

* *City of Boston
Boston Landmarks CommissionIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum Study ReportFBI theft page
an
Mar 2013 update
{{Authority control 1903 establishments in Massachusetts Art museums and galleries established in 1903 Art museums and galleries in Boston Museums on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Cummings and Sears buildings Former private collections in the United States Historic house museums in Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Boston Landmarks in Fenway–Kenmore Gilded Age mansions