The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Heist

What are the 13 Paintings Stolen at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum?

It was thirty years ago in March of 2020 that the largest art heist in the world took place at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. This case remains unsolved. To this day there are 13 missing paintings whose value exceeds $500 million.  There is a ten million dollar reward for the recovery of this artwork that is thought to be connected with the mob in Boston and Connecticut. Today, the museum offers a fascinating audio tour that takes visitors step by step through the theft and this unsolved mystery. The empty frames that still hang are stark reminders of the priceless art they once held.

About the Isabella Steward Gardner Museum
Isabella Stewart Gardner was a patron of the arts and a collector that traveled the world. After the death of her husband, she constructed this museum for the “education and enjoyment of the public forever.” She filled three galleries with an astonishing collection of 7,500 paintings, sculptures, tapestries, furniture, objects de art, 1,500 rare books, manuscripts, and 7,000 archival objects from ancient Rome, Medieval Europe, Renaissance Italy, Asia, the Islamic world and 19th century France and Europe.

The Stolen Paintings

• The Concert by Johannes Vermeer (1663-1666) - This was displayed in the Dutch Room and is considered to be the rarest painting and most valuable that was stolen.
• A Lady and Gentleman in Black - Rembrandt (1633) - This is possibly Rembrandt’s first painting of a double portrait.
• Christ in the Storm of the Sea of Galilee - Rembrandt (1633) - This is one of the artists’ most dramatic paintings and was stolen from the Dutch Room.
• Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man (1633) - Rembrandt - This etching is tiny and measured only 1 inch and 3/4 wide by 2 inches high and is a self-portrait.
• Landscape with Obelisk - Govaert Flinck -(1638) - Mysteriously realistic this painting was stolen from the Dutch Room.
• Chez Tortoni - Edouard Manet (1875) - A famous image of the cafe society painted when the artist was in his forties and stolen from the Blue Room.
• 5 Works on Paper - Edgar Degas (1857-1888) - These works on paper were stolen from the Short Gallery and were stored in cabinets that were designed by Isabella Stewart Gardner. The loss of the artwork that included horses is significant. The watercolor called Leaving the
  Paddock is the most important piece stolen.
• A Bronze Eagle Finial - French (1813) - This eagle finial was attached to a silk flag from Napoleon’s First Regiment of Imperial Guard.
• Chinese Gu - (1200-100 B. C.) - This bronze beaker dates back to the Shang dynasty and is the oldest stolen object that was located in the Dutch Room.