The Art Forger LibGuide: Home

The unsolved art heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum happened in 1990. During the 81-minute heist, 13 important pieces of artwork went missing and have not been found since. Use this LibGuide to find more information about the museum, the heist, and other materials. Below you will find:

• Information about the Gardner Museum

• Where to watch the Netflix series, This is a Robbery, about the heist

• Listen to the NPR podcast, Last Seen

• View all of the artwork and artifacts taken that night

• Visit the staff recommendation page for more books and movies

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

According to the National Park Service

“The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, constructed between 1900-1902 under the strict guidance of its daring namesake, illustrates Gardner’s intense interest in contemporary European and ancient art, and it is an excellent example of an early 20th-century house museum as well. In 1902, Gardner moved the beginnings of her collection into the four-story Italian palazzo style building. Unpretentious from the outside, the inside overlooked magnificent gardens and a skylighted central courtyard. Over the years, Gardner filled the halls and courtyard with carefully collected and arranged works of art and ancient treasures.

When she had arrived in 1860 in Boston’s established and patrician Brahman society, Gardner found the atmosphere less than accepting of her colorful, New York City-bred personality. At first dismayed and saddened by her position, Gardner overcame her feelings and soon became, with her lavish parties and spirited discussions, one of Boston society's premier hostesses; she also became a patron of the Boston Symphony. During the 1890s, Gardner began collecting works of art from around the world and planning her grand museum. Until her death in 1924, Gardner traveled throughout Europe and Asia meticulously collecting art to add to her collection. In her will, Gardner bequeathed the museum to the city of Boston as a public institution. There was one condition, however: the collection had to be maintained precisely as Gardner had arranged it--nothing could be added, removed or rearranged. The museum and its collection, both monuments to personal taste, remain unique to this day.”

https://www.nps.gov/places/gardner-museum.html

Who was Isabella Stewart Gardner?

"Born in 1840 in New York to a wealthy family, Isabella was educated privately, and her first tour of Europe in 1854 nurtured what became her lifelong passion: the arts. Isabella had become a serious collector of great art by the late 1880s. When her father died in 1891, he left her an inheritance from which she could fund her astonishing collection.

Her collecting career assumed new urgency, however, when her husband died suddenly in 1898. Again, Isabella turned to art for comfort, this time by purchasing the land on which the museum now stands. With the steadfast goal of opening her home to the public, she immersed herself in the design and construction of a home, garden, and gallery that would house her unique collection for guests to enjoy. She featured Venetian terraces, a four-story courtyard, art and music galleries, a top-floor apartment where she lived, and even a private chapel - with decorative arts from east and West." (2021)

https://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/pages/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-boston-who.aspx