Guide To the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, A Venetian Palace in Boston

“Don’t spoil a good story by telling the truth.” — Isabella Stewart Gardner

Here’s my guide to visiting the magnificent Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum in Boston Massachusetts. I give you an overview of the museum’s history, the must see masterpieces, and tips for visiting.

Dennis Miller Bunker, Portrait of Isabella Stewart Gardener, 1898
Dennis Miller Bunker, Portrait of Isabella Stewart Gardener, 1898

If you’re an art lover, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is a must visit attraction in Boston Massachusetts.

The museum is housed in an exquisite Venetian-style palazzo. The collection includes old master paintings from the Italian Renaissance and Dutch Golden Ages.

The boutique museum is mostly the work of one extraordinary woman — Isabella Stewart Gardner. Gardner was a fearless, kick-ass woman with a vision.

Diego Velazquez, King Philip IV of Spain, 1628-29 -- in the Titian Room
Diego Velazquez, King Philip IV of Spain, 1628-29

She was a maverick, especially in a day when women were supposed to be seen and not heard. She collected what she wanted, traveled where she wanted, and wore what she wanted — even if it caused a scandal. She was full of elan, verve, and could even be a tad eccentric.

To be sure, Gardner’s lifestyle was facilitated by great wealth. But she put her wealth to splendid use, building a stunning and timeless museum and gifting it to Boston.

A visit to her museum is one of the best things to do in Boston, an absolute must see sight in Beantown.

READ: 3 Days in Boston Itinerary

balcony at the beautiful Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston MA
balcony in the beautiful Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Overview Of The Gardner Museum

1. A Short Biography of Gardner

Born in New York in 1840, Isabella Stewart Gardner was an arts patron, philanthropist and socialite.

In 1860, she married Bostonian Jack Gardner. She fell into a deep depression after the death of her infant child and subsequent miscariage.

As a tonic and geographical cure, her husband took her on an 18 month world tour and they traveled extensively thereafter. Her favorite city was Venice.

As she traveled, Gardner developed a passion for art. She avidly began acquiring it, advised by Bernard Berenson, a connoisseur of Italian Renaissance art.

the Tapestry Room at Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
the Tapestry Room at Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Over time, and after inheriting her father’s fortune, she amassed a collection of more than 7,500 paintings and objects spanning antiquity to the 1920s.

Gardner and her husband planned to build and open a private museum for their burgeoning collection. In 1899, Gardner purchased land in the then undeveloped Fenway area of Boston.

She began constructing a grand mansion that she called “Fenway Court.” It was modeled after the 15th century Palazzo Barbaro, a must see site in Venice.

Upon her husband’s death, with her characteristic energy, Gardner took on the project herself. She supervised every detail with a zeal and hands on approach that sometimes surprised her architect and builders.

According to the museum, when ceiling beams arrived for the Gothic Room and were too smooth for her liking, she took an ax in hand and hacked away to achieve the desired result.

a lively portrait of Isabella in Venice by Anders Zorn
a lively portrait of Isabella in Venice by Anders Zorn

Once the building was completed in 1902, Gardner spent a year carefully curating and installing her collection amid the three floors of intimate gallery spaces. The eponymous museum opened in 1903. Gardner lived in the private fourth floor living quarters until her death in 1924.

She had transcendent ideas about the importance of art in an ever-changing world. Art, she believed, made the greatest civilizations immortal. And she was on a mission to bring art to the American public.

On her death, Gardner left her palace-museum to Boston to be used “for the education and enjoyment of the public forever.” But there was a proviso.

She specified in her will that not one artifact, piece of furniture, or painting was ever to be added, removed, re-arranged, or loaned. If this proviso was violated, the art would be donated to Harvard. As a result, the museum is almost frozen in time.

the Artemis statue in the Courtyard
the Artemis statue in the Courtyard

2. The Museum Architecture

The museum, like its patron, is a spectacle both inside and out. I couldn’t get enough of the dramatic interior courtyard with its skylit glass roof.

In the courtyard, which can be seen from virtually every room on every level, Isabella combined Roman, Venetian, and medieval architectural elements and sculpture.

She essentially created a Mediterranean setting for her art collection.

the courtyard at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
the courtyard at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

The courtyard is full of sculptures representing powerful women from classical mythology, including Artemis and Persephone.

Facing Artemis across the courtyard is a small marble “throne”where Gardner is said to have sat, meditating on her installations.

The house is filled with gorgeous antique furniture. Each room is named and sumptuously decorated. In effect, the museum is a total work of art with Gardner as the installation artist.

3. Gardner’s Curatorial Philosophy

The museum is not exactly a curator’s idea of the best place to view art. The lighting is poor (dim to preserve the paintings). The placement of the paintings and sculptures is somewhat random and over-crowded. And there are no identifying labels.

This, of course, was exactly Gardner’s aesthetic intent. For her, art wasn’t separate from life. Gardner wanted an intimate personal museum, not a cold, sterile mausoleum-like one.

She wanted the viewer to appreciate the art itself, to have an immersive emotional experience. She didn’t want to provide an art history lesson. She wanted viewers to find their own meaning.

As a result, Gardner’s museum is delightfully atypical. It’s a one-of-a-kind experience, a creation of one woman’s idiosyncratic personal vision. You have to experience it on her terms.

The collection is so varied, and the setting and ambience so unique, it’s a joy to peruse the museum. You are as equally likely to marvel at mosaics or a ceiling or a sculpture as you are at the paintings.

Isabella mantra was, “it’s my pleasure.” But it is likely to be yours as well.

In this way, Gardner’s museum is similar to Philadelphia’s Barnes Foundation, another private collection in Philadelphia infused with the deeply personal, convention-be-damned sensibility of its founder Albert Barnes.

READ: 2 Day itinerary for Philadelphia

One slight deviation from Gardner’s iron clad will is the new modern exhibition hall, the Hostetter Gallery, designed by Renzo Piano.

There, some of her masterpieces are, temporarily, taken off the Italian red silk walls and hung in a proper gallery with modern lighting for all to admire without the superimposition of her vision.

me, admiring a Veronese on the ceiling
me, admiring a sumptuous Veronese on the ceiling

4. Layout of the Gardner Museum

After entering via a lobby in the museum’s new wing, you cross a glass walled corridor to the original museum structure, the Palace. There are three floors of galleries.

On the first floor, highlights include the Spanish Cloister with its enormous Moorish framed piece by John Singer Sargent, the Blue Room, and the Yellow Room.

On the second floor, there is the Dutch Room, the Raphael Room, the Early Italian Room, and the Tapestry Room. On the third floor, you’ll find the the Veronese Room and the Titian Room.

There’s also a long gallery that includes a chapel. Your final stop is the Gothic Room, featuring the controversial and iconic painting of Gardner by John Singer Sargent.

In each gallery, you’ll find laminated guides that identify the works displayed. They are a handy alternative to the traditional wall plaques.

the Farnese Sarcophagus in the Courtyard of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
the Farnese Sarcophagus

Guide To The Gardner Museum: What To See

There are scads of beautiful masterpieces at the Gardner Museum. I’ll give you an overview of the 10 most famous paintings and art works.

1. Farnese Sarcophagus

One of the museum’s most important works is the Farnese Sarcophagus. It is a stone coffin, located in the courtyard.

The piece was created in Athens around 225 A.D. In keeping with its garden setting, the sculpture is a celebration of spring.

Recent conservation work shows that the sarcophagus was once painted. Even today, there are faint traces of purple paint on the grapes.

John Singer Sargent's El Jaleo in the Spanish Cloister, framed by Moorish arches
John Singer Sargent’s El Jaleo in the Spanish Cloister

2. John Singer Sargent’s El Jaleo

El Jaleo, a large 1879 Singer Sargent piece, is unconventional, dramatic, and romantic. Singer Sargent wanted the painting to express his love of gypsy music and dance.

The name of the painting, El Jaleo, suggests a dance but also a broader meaning of a ruckus. You can almost feel the strumming from the paint swirls. The passionate painting seems to capture an instantaneous moment.

colorful ceramic tiles in the Spanish Cloister
colorful ceramic tiles in the Spanish Cloister

The painting is displayed in the Spanish Cloister and is surrounded by intricate tile work. Gardner had the room, with its Moorish arches, made specially for the painting and positioned it just off the main entry.

Singer Sargent painted a variety of subjects, but is best known for his portraits of Gilded Age robber barons and society ladies.

Gardner purchased 61 of his works over the course of their long friendship. One of his finest is on display in the Blue Room, Madame Gautreau Drinking a Toast.

Singer Sargent's 1903 Madame Gautreau Drinking a Toast
Singer Sargent, Madame Gautreau Drinking a Toast, 1903
Rembrandt Self Portrait Age 23 in the Dutch Room
Rembrandt, Self Portrait Age 23, 1629 in the Dutch Room

3. Rembrandt, Self Portrait Age 23

Rembrandt seemed to have a sub specialty in self portraits. He made over 80 of them in his lifetime, exploring his own face and personality in endless ways.

The Gardner’s Self Portrait is an early work, but shows his great talent, with dramatic light and shading. After purchasing this painting, of great value, Isabella decided that her collection was important enough to form a public museum.

Gardner’s three other Rembrandt’s were stolen in the greatest art heist in art history, which I discuss below. This painting was cut out of its frame, but inexplicably left behind.

the Dutch Room of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
the Dutch Room
Francisco Zubaran, A Doctor of Law, 1635
Francisco Zubaran, A Doctor of Law, 1635

4. Francisco Zurbarán, A Doctor of Law

I quite liked this dramatic 17th century Spanish portrait. Following a spectacular debut in Madrid, Zurbarán dominated the market for religious paintings.

He served as court painter to the Spanish King Philip IV. His portraits, though, are extremely rare. Zurbarán’s portraiture style was austere and even harsh, with a dramatic use of light and shadow.

Gardner went to great lengths to obtain this piece, finally purchasing it from the Ehrich Galleries when, after a visit, the owner fell “under the spell of [Gardner’s] enchanted palace.”

This Baroque piece is oddly on display in the Dutch Room, where it sits in stark contrast to more subdued paintings.

Titian's Rape of Europa undergoing conservation
Titian’s Rape of Europa, 1560-62

5. Titian, Rape of Europa,

The Rape of Europa, perhaps the most valuable piece in Gardner’s collection underwent conservation and was fully restored in 2020. The brilliantly hued painting was originally commissioned for Phillip II of Spain.

Titian was inspired by a mythological story from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Jupiter, king of the gods, is infatuated with Europa. He turns himself into a bull and abducts her.

Titian is widely considered the most important painter of the 16th century Venetian school. At the time she acquired the painting, Gardner set a world record for her purchase, outbidding representatives of the Louvre and London’s National Gallery.

Pierro Della Francesca's Hercules, 1470, in the Early Italian Room
Pierro Della Francesca’s Hercules, 1470, in the Early Italian Room

6. Piero Della Francesca, Hercules

Piero della Francesca Piero is a genius and foundational artist of the Quattrocento or early Renaissance. Piero’s works are highly linear and calculated, characterized by an infused calm and geometric sobriety. His cool tones and unmoving figures created a dream-like sense of timeless stillness.

Hercules is in the Early Italian Room, which highlights Gardner’s love of Italian Renaissance painting. You can identify Hercules by his club and his lion’s skin.

He has a curiously ambiguous expression; it can be interpreted as either confidence or indecision. A carefully placed knot avoids full nudity, although that was the norm at the time.

Most of Piero’s work is in situ in Italy. This painting was originally a fresco in the artist’s house. When Isabella bought it, it was detached with a portion of the supporting wall. This is the only Piero fresco outside Italy.

READ: Guide To the Piero della Francesca Trail in Italy

Raphael, Lamentation over the Dead Christ, 1503-05
Raphael, Lamentation over the Dead Christ, 1503-05

7. Raphael, Lamentation over the Dead Christ

The Lamentation over the Dead Christ was Gardner’s second Raphael acquisition. It is a small panel, with luminous colors, casually set on a table in the now fully renovated Raphael Room.

The 1504 painting was originally part of an altarpiece in Perugia Italy. Even though it is an early work, Raphael imbues his figures with the empathy and sweetness beloved in his later paintings.

Gardner’s other Raphael, Count Tomasso Inghirami ,1515-16, is also in the Raphael Room on the wall above the small panel.

READ: Guide To Raphael Frescos in Rome’s Villa Farnesina

a view of Gardner's two Raphaels in the Raphael Room
a view of Gardner’s two Raphaels in the Raphael Room
Sandro Botticelli, The Tragedy of Lucretia, 1496
Sandro Botticelli, The Tragedy of Lucretia, 1496

8. Sandro Botticelli, The Tragedy of Lucretia

This epic Botticelli masterpiece is a tempera and oil painting on wood. It was the first Botticelli to come to the U.S. Most Botticelli’s are in Florence’s magnificent Uffizi Gallery.

It’s a brightly colored painting of Lucretia’s rape and suicide, It shows the agony and disbelief of the onlookers as they see Lucretia lying on a stone with a dagger in her chest. In addition to the luminous colors, Botticelli creates the illusion of space with a linear perspective.

Art historian Laurence Kanter described it as “certainly one of the great masterpieces of Florentine painting from the last years of probably its greatest period, the golden age of the fifteenth century.”

Paolo Veronese, The Coronation of Hebe, 1580-89
Paolo Veronese, The Coronation of Hebe, 1580-89

9. Paolo Veronese, The Coronation of Hebe

In 1899, while construction of the museum was well under way, Isabella acquired The Coronation of Hebe, then attributed to Veronese. Gardner commissioned gilded paneling in Milan to frame the work in appropriate splendor in her palace.

The Veronese Room, which takes its name from the ceiling painting, is stuffed with splendid mixture of objects.

Balancing the stunning and huge Coronation on the ceiling are several pastels executed on an intimate scale by Isabella’s contemporary, James McNeill Whistler.

Isabella Stewart Gardner Portrait by John Singer Sargent, on view in the Gothic Room
John Singer Sargent, Isabella Stewart Gardner Portrait, 1888

10. John Singer Sargent, Portrait of Isabella Stewart Gardner

In this Sargent portrait, Gardner appears almost like a religious figure with the wallpaper patterns giving the effect of a halo or crown. Gardner is wearing her trademark pearls and her trademark low cut dress.

Gardner was not a good sitter, being too restless. Sargent made eight attempts to capture her likeness and was about to give up. But the ninth try was a success.

When the portrait was unveiled, critics savaged it. Gardner’s husband asked that it not be exhibited again. Unlike Gardner, who loved the portrait, Jack disliked the painting, saying that “It looks like hell, but looks like you.” The Gothic Room was then closed to the public during her lifetime.

a 1920 watercolor of Gardner by Singer Sargent
Singer Sargent, watercolor sketch of Gardner, 1920

The World’s Biggest Art Heist: 81 Minutes

The Gardner Museum has also been the scene of a serious art crime.

At 1:24 am on March 18, 1990, two thieves disguised as policeman gained entry museum and pulled off the greatest heist in art history. They told the guards they were there to investigate a disturbance; the guard on duty broke protocol and let them in.

The thieves handcuffed the guards and, in 81 long minutes, stole 13 works of art including masterpieces by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Manet, and sketches by Degas.

Rembrandt's only seascape, Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee
Rembrandt’s only seascape, Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee

The robbers likely came for the Rembrandts. There is a long history of stolen Rembrandts. So they hit the Dutch room first.

They stole Rembrandt van Rijn’s only known seascape, Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee, and his painting A Lady and a Gentleman in Black. They cut one of his self portraits from the frame, Self Portrait Age 23. But then, oddly, left it behind.

They also stole a Johannes Vermeer from the Dutch Room, The Concert. There are only 35 known Vermeers in existence. They are exceedingly rare. The museum estimates that Rembrandt’s seascape and the Vermeer alone are worth $500 million.

an empty frame where a Rembrandt used to be in the Dutch Room
an empty frame where a Rembrandt used to be in the Dutch Room
Vermeer's The Concert, stolen from the Dutch Room
Vermeer’s The Concert, stolen from the Dutch Room

At 2:45 am, the thieves left the museum and disappeared into the night. They were never heard from again. The notorious art heist remains unsolved, with the Gardner Museum offering a $10 million reward or information.

Today, empty frames hang as placeholders in the museum. The museum has offered and extended a reward of $10 million for information leading to the recovery of the stolen art work.

The FBI thoroughly investigated the case, but came up empty. The FBI believes the two men suspected of pulling off the heist were killed soon after the theft and that no one knows where they stashed the artwork.

That’s the most likely reason why the reward hasn’t produced a break in the case. There’s also been speculation that the theft was the work of a mobster or a mafia job, but the museum doesn’t agree.

the Blue Room with a missing painting by Edouard Manet
the Blue Room with a missing painting by Edouard Manet

There’s no shortage of rumors.

They weren’t expert thieves, that’s for sure. The small time burglars left behind The Rape of Europa and a nearby Michelangelo.

In an effort to keep the heist in the public eye, the museum released a book called Stolen, about the robbery. There is also a 10 part podcast called “Last Seen” about the stolen works.

Anthony Amore is the museum’s director of security, who works on the “strange” case every day and is an expert in the recovery of stolen art. He is in “almost constant contact” with FBI investigators.

my copy of the book Stolen about the art heist
my copy of the book Stolen about the art heist

Tipsters still call “all the time,” with leads ranging from the “vaguely interesting to the downright bizarre.” Amore calls the unsolved case “the Holy Grail in the art world,” but seems to think that he is “making the haystack smaller.”

Whether the paintings will ever be recovered is a controversial topic. Some experts say they are “long gone.” Others are certain they still exist. Typically, the thieves only try to sell the art on the black market.

The Gardner Museum heist was recently the subject of a Netflix documentary called This is a Robbery. The film makers hope the documentary will shine a global spotlight on the missing pieces, which — despite their value — weren’t know much outside of New England.

the stolen painting Chez Tortoni, 18975, by Edouard Manet
the stolen painting Chez Tortoni, 18975, by Edouard Manet

In the meantime, there is a new reality app called “Hacking the Heist” that allows you to view the paintings while you’re at the museum.

The app is simple: “Just hold up your smartphone camera to the empty frames that still hang on the Gardner walls, and suddenly the paintings will appear, back where they belong at long last.”

For now, the Gardner Museum’s empty frames are a silent and poignant reminder of the loss of these paintings to the art loving public. And it was the public that Gardner, through her magnificent bequest, was trying to serve in the first place.

the Dutch Room at the Gardner Museum
the Dutch Room at the Gardner Museum

Practical Guide For The Gardner Museum

Here are some must know tips for visiting the Gardner Museum.

Address: 25 Evans Way, Boston MA

Hours: 11:00 am to 5:00 pm daily, except Tuesday

Entry Fee: $20 for adults, under 18 free

Fun Fact: If your name is Isabella, show ID and get in free of charge

Tel: (617) 566-1401

Parking: There are a limited number of free and metered spots. The museum offers discounted parking at the next door Simmons School of Management garage.

Metro stops: Museum of Fine Arts stop on the Green E train or the Ruggles stop on the Orange Line

Website

Sargent's El Jaleo -- in the Spanish Cloister of the Garnder Museum
Sargent’s El Jaleo — in the Spanish Cloister

I hope you’ve enjoyed my guide to the beautiful Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. You may enjoy these other New England travel guides and resources:

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