Meet Isabella

Isabella Stewart Gardner by Anders Zorn, 1894

Just got back from five days

of college visits on the east coast.

While we were in Boston

we were able to do a little 

sightseeing.

Three different Bostonians

told us one of their

favorite spots

in their city 

was the

 The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum 

It is truly unbelievable.

From the minute you 

walk through the door 

 you see why it

is such a magical place

that makes an impact on its visitors.  

(Note: we were not permitted to take any photos

inside the museum, so these have all been gathered from 

Pinterest and Google images.) I was sick that I could not

take any pictures of my daughter standing in this amazing space,

but I am a rule-follower so I obeyed the instructions!)

Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840 - 1924)

This is Isabella.

She was born in New York

in 1840 as Isabella Stewart

and married a Boston man named

John Lowell Gardner Jr. in 1860.

The two of them traveled the world

and began collecting art and artifacts.

When Isabella's father died in 1891,

leaving her a large fortune, her "collecting"

took on a new purpose and acquisitions amassed. 

She had always dreamed of building a museum

to contain her collections, 

and when her husband died unexpectedly 

of a stroke in 1898, these plans 

 became a reality. 

She found land to buy

in the undeveloped Fenway section of Boston,

and in 1899 the construction of this building began.

Two years later, Isabella moved into the new structure

with eight balconies looking down onto a Roman

mosaic courtyard surrounded by Roman 

statues with tropical gardens and fountains.

The indoor courtyard has a glass dome roof four stories
above to allow natural lighting for the gardens below.
 

In 1903, 

she opened her museum

(with private living quarters on the fourth floor)

and named it 

Fenway Court.

18th century Venetian chair

Titian's "Europa" dated 1561

This palace in the city,

is similar in style and architecture to a

museum in Milan, the Poldi Pezzoli Museum 

that she had visited as a young girl. 

Poldi Pezzoli Musuem, Milan

Isabella's spectacular collection of over

2,500 pieces ranges from ancient Chinese

bronzes, to Titian's Europa, and the first Matisse

acquired by an American museum. 

17th century Italian leather wall covering panels

The walls within are covered with paintings 

from Rembrandt, Manet, Degas, Velasquez,

 Whistler, Van Dyck, Rubens, Bellini,

and Sargent to name a few. 

There are rooms with floor to ceiling tapestries, 

filled with relics of cathedrals and castles 

from around the world. Ancient carved figures, 

furnishings, and religious paintings

and pieces dating from the 1300's. 

Too much to list.

You just need to go and visit --  it is a gift to behold.

There was 

one 

disappointing moment for me.

My most favorite non-American artist

is Jan Vermeer (1632 - 1675). 

When I realized Isabella had a Vermeer - 

The Concert, c. 1658 shown above, 

I was ecstatic! 

I looked and looked and could

not find it anywhere.

It was stolen.

It seems that in 1990,

two thieves dressed as Boston policemen

stole thirteen works of art to include this Vermeer,

and two of her Rembrandt paintings. 

Heartbreaking.

They have never been found.

  

Empty frames hang where the stolen paintings
were once displayed.

Stolen Rembrandt: "Storm on the Sea of Galilee"

In any event,

I highly recommend that you visit

this breath-taking collection and gardens.

John Singer Sargent painted Isabella several times. This is just one version.
A second one shown below two years before she passed away.

 Sargent's Isabella in 1922

For museum information link here

The next time you are in Boston,

put it at the top of your list.

It's right near the Museum of Fine Arts

and Fenway Park. 

Seeing a collection

of this magnitude in a castle-like setting

is so much more interesting.

I think you will agree!

~ A 

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum