Bequeathed by one of Boston’s most flamboyant characters the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum houses some of Beantown’s most important art works.
Situated among the greenery of the Back Bay Fens, within sight of the Museum of Fine Arts, the Gardner Museum rivals its neighbour in the quality if not quantity of its exhibits.
Set within a fabulous Venetian style palazzo with stunning courtyard gardens, the museum houses over 2,500 works of art from one of the world’s most impressive private collections. This includes such masterpieces as Titian’s Rape of Europa and Rembrandt’s Storm on the Sea of Galilee along with works from Degas, Michelangelo, Monet and Botticelli.
What makes the collection all the more interesting is the woman they once belonged to. Isabella Stewart Gardner was Boston’s grande dame during the 19th century, and a controversial and illustrious character. The stories about ‘Mrs Jack’, as she was known, are many; she once walked her two pet lions down Commercial Avenue and scandalised Bostonian society when she ‘stripped off’ by bearing her arms for a portrait by John Singer Sargent.
Over the years she amassed an unrivalled private collection of art works from European Masters and when she moved from Beacon Hill to the newly fashionable Back Bay Fens, she brought her collection to where they are now housed in accordance with her last wishes.
Those wishes were desecrated however in 1990, when the Gardner Museum fell victim to the world’s largest and most audacious art theft. Over £300 million worth of art works were taken, including works by Degas, Rembrandt and Manet and Vermeer’s The Concert. The crime remains unsolved and to date none of the missing art works have been recovered.
 Location:
280 The Fenway, Boston. Take the Green Line to the Museum of Fine Arts stop.
Opening Times:
Tuesday – Sunday: 11am-5pm
Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve.
Admission Fees:
Adults: $12
Concessions: £10
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