Modeled after a Venetian palazzo, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston houses one of the world’s most remarkable art collections.
(2001)
Operating as usual
Happy birthday to Abraham Lincoln, born #OnThisDay in 1809. Born into poverty and self-educated in Kentucky, Lincoln rose through the political ranks to become President of the United States in 1861. Isabella placed this sketch by Victor Hugo in her Presidents and Statesmen Case in the Long Gallery, along with letters and ephemera from other politicians.
Image: Victor Hugo (French, 1802 - 1885), President Abraham Lincoln, late 19th century to early 20th century. Ink on paper.
🎂 Happy birthday to economist and politician A. Piatt Andrew, who was a close friend and frequent visitor of Isabella. Andrew was one of Isabella's friends that Anders Zorn painted after the death of her husband, Jack, to comfort her.
Image: Anders Zorn, Abram Piatt Andrew, Jr., 1911. Oil on canvas.
Happy Chinese New Year! Fish and lotus flowers, like the ones on this snuff bottle, are traditional New Year motifs, representing wealth and longevity. The pronunciation of “fish” in Mandarin and many other Chinese dialects is “yú”, which is pronounced the same as the word for “leftover”, promising an abundance of food and prosperity for the New Year.
Image: Chinese, Snuff Bottle, early 19th century. Rose quartz.
The celebrated ballerina Anna Pavlova was born #OnThisDay in 1881. Isabella loved music and dance almost as much as the visual arts, and was a great admirer of Pavlova. She purchased this drawing by Léon Bakst of a costume design for the ballerina in 1914.
Image: Léon Bakst, Anna Pavlova in the Ballet 'Oriental Fantasy', 1913. Pencil and watercolor on paper.
“In both my painting and my choreographic process, I definitely have to have a kind of passion, a kind of mood, for what I would like to do,” — Shen Wei to WBUR 90.9 FM’s Pamela Reynolds.
Reynolds caught up with the artist to explore the depth of the artist’s Gardner exhibition, read it here → https://wbur.fm/3p307uc
Image: Shen Wei, Reflecting Elements Number 6, 2019. Oil on linen.
This week on the blog, we are taking a closer look at the over 65 examples of East Asian lacquer in the Museum's collection with Holly Salmon, the #GardnerMuseum Director of Conservation. Take a deep dive→ https://bit.ly/2NcKIKJ
Object: Japanese, Cigarette Box, late 19th century. Lacquer with quail eggshells and gold.
Artist John La Farge traveled to the South Seas between 1890 and 1891, and painted vibrant scenes of Samoan life. Above this sketch of a traditional Samoan dance, or Siva, La Farge wrote a letter to his son, Bancel, describing the scene that inspired him to paint.
Image: John La Farge, Siva Dance at Night, 19 December 1890. Watercolor and ink on rag board.
Write a note to someone special this February! Follow simple tips and tricks from Rayna Lo Art as you create custom stationery and envelope designs that transform an ordinary note into a special letter sent from the heart.
Just in time for Valentine's Day, let's go In the Studio: https://bit.ly/2K4rVQb
🌿 Throughout the year, our always-blooming Courtyard is transformed with greenery, reflecting both Isabella’s passion for gardens and flowers as well as showcasing the skill and dedication of our horticulture staff. 🌿
Gift at the Gardner and the Museum’s Horticulture team proudly present this collection of plants from our garden alongside Gift’s assortment of Isabella-inspired terra cotta planters designed in collaboration with potter and terra cotta historian, Guy Wolff Pottery. Browse now: https://bit.ly/3q1hz3w
Please note: This collection of plants and pottery is available for pickup only and may not be returned.
“I have been arranging photographs in my albums all the morning; I hope someday you will care to see them,” Isabella wrote to her sister-in-law about her travel albums. Isabella documented her many travels abroad in colorful volumes, such as this one from her trip to India, complete with insights about the culture, weather, and art of the places she visited.
Image: Isabella Stewart Gardner (American, 1840 - 1924), Travel Album: India, 1884. Bound album: photographs, ink, paper.
This #TransformationTuesday features our Conservation Technician, Greta! She has been hard at work creating a bronze cast of the Reaching Jaguar by Anna Hyatt Huntington for her graduate school portfolio. While still a work in progress, Greta has created a clay model of the original piece, and will now make a mold and cast the model.
Filled with light, the Chinese Loggia functions as a transitional space between the vibrant Courtyard and the outside natural world. The juxtaposition of sculptures from both Europe and China point to Isabella’s fascination with a swath of cultures and art.
Right now, the sunny space is filled with delicate Narcissus!
Manchu court ladies of the late Qing dynasty in China wore fingernail guards to protect their long nails. Lengthy fingernails were a symbol of prosperity and power in the 19th century court, highlighted further by intricate guards decorated with symbols of good fortune.
Image: Unknown, Fingernail Guard, mid 19th century. Silver.
Now that’s a #SuperbOwl! 🦉This Ancient Greek drachma features the two symbols of Athens on the obverse and reverse - the city’s patron goddess Athena, and her owl, representing wisdom. Although Athena does not own a football, she is an expert javelin thrower. Tampa Bay or Kansas City would be lucky to have her on the team!
Object: Greek, Athens, Drachma, about 365 BC - 359 BC. Silver.
This delicately embroidered textile is made of fragments from an 18th century bed cover. Creating intricate pieces such as this one were part of the daily household ritual in Ioannina, Greece. Isabella placed these bed cover fragments in both the Blue Room and the Long Gallery.
Image: Greek, Fragments from Bed Cover, 18th century - early 19th century. Linen tabby embroidered with polychrome silk yarns.
Looking for some weekend plans? The Boston Globe's Murray Whyte recommends a visit to Shen Wei: Painting in Motion, “an exhibition of gutsy, often-monumental paintings,” and also suggests some meditation while you’re there. Read more → https://bit.ly/3ayQkH4
“Staff are committed to creating a safe and inspiring setting for visitors,” reports WCVB Channel 5 Boston's Matt Reed. Watch his conversation with ISGM Director Peggy Fogelman about the Museum’s reopening: https://bit.ly/39QqJKs
Boston's storied Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is reopening to visitors Friday, after the city relaxed restrictions that caused the museum to close for a second time as the pandemic surged.
The ARTery captured our Horticulture team’s race to fill the Courtyard ahead of today’s reopening! Get a behind-the-scenes look → https://wbur.fm/3pTa5j7
Come see their hard work for yourself, tickets are now on sale: http://bit.ly/2GaSmAa
#TBT to the designing of Fenway Court! Isabella hired noted architect Willard T. Sears to execute her vision of a Venetian Palazzo in the heart of Boston. Between 1899 and 1901 Sears and Isabella collaborated on making her museum a reality.
Images: Willard Thomas Sears (American, 1837-1920), Designs for the Exterior of Fenway Court, East View (detail), 1900. Pencil and watercolor on paper.
We’re excited to share the latest Luminary Lens, a digital series featuring Neighborhood Salon Luminary artists bringing fresh perspectives to the Gardner Museum’s historic collection through commissioned new works.
Watch dancer, singer, lyricist, and percussionist Eli "Lady" Pabon-Szebeda on her creative process to create SilenceBreakers, a musical response to the Gardner Museum’s The Story of Lucretia by Botticelli. Watch the full journey here: https://bit.ly/3jjTFxu
🎥: La Gringa Loca Productions
Felix Mendelssohn was born on this day in 1809. Isabella greatly admired Mendelssohn, who was one of the most accomplished composers of the early Romantic period. A letter written by Mendelssohn to one of his pupils can be found alongside other musical treasures in the Museum’s Yellow Room. Embodying Isabella’s love of interdisciplinary artistry, Mendelssohn was also a visual artist who specialized in landscape painting.
Check out our online Music Collection, featuring recordings of Mendelssohn’s music performed at the Gardner Museum: https://bit.ly/3rlhfgs
Image: Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Letter To Friedrich Hieronymus Truhn From Leipzig, Germany, 26 February 1839 (detail). Ink On Paper
This week on the blog: In honor of #BlackHistoryMonth, we’re revisiting a lecture given at the Museum in 1993 by acclaimed artist, Allan Rohan Crite. Learn what he had to say, and what he was drawn to in the Museum’s collection → https://bit.ly/3aqbDdL
Image: Allan Rohan Crite, Douglass Square, 1936. Oil on canvas. Image courtesy of the Saint Louis Art Museum.
Did you know that a badger is the forecaster of choice in Germany, instead of a groundhog? February 2nd was “Badger Day” (Dachstag) in the country before the 16th century, where if a badger saw its shadow, winter was prolonged by four more weeks. The Pennsylvania Dutch continued this tradition when they emigrated from Europe, using a groundhog instead of the traditional badger.
Image: Japanese, Badger-Shaped Incense Case (Kogo), 19th century. Ceramic with red raku glaze.
We can’t wait to welcome you back! Planning a visit? Please review the following #KnowBeforeYouGo tips to ensure a safe and seamless visit.
Tickets are on sale now for our February 5 reopening, grab yours: https://bit.ly/3iZaqOH
On Thursday, February 4, we're dropping the fourth in our Luminary Lens series! We've invited a handful of the Neighborhood Salon Luminaries to create brand new works, inspired by items in the Gardner Museum collection.
Follow Eli Pabon-Szebeda in her journey to create SilenceBreakers, a commissioned piece of music and dance in three movements responding to the painting The Story of Lucretia by Botticelli. Eli investigates this painting's evocative story, exploring themes of violence against women and ongoing work to center women's stories and voices today.
Featuring special guest David Szebeda "Sound Chalice". Learn more here: https://bit.ly/2TMx1lO
🎥: La Gringa Loca Productions
The Worthington Street Lobby was once Isabella’s private entrance to her apartment on the 4th floor of the Museum. She decorated the space with six Chinese lacquered doors along with several other Asian architectural fragments, creating a temple-like ambience.
Happy Birthday to composer and violinist Charles Martin Loeffler, born #OnThisDay in 1861! Loeffler was one of Isabella’s closest friends. She invited John Singer Sargent to paint this portrait of him in the Gothic Room, which he painted in just three hours, and then presented the work to Isabella on her birthday. Loeffler’s portrait lives in the Yellow Room, a reminder of the close bond between Isabella, Sargent, and the composer.
Image: John Singer Sargent, Charles Martin Loeffler, 1903. Oil on canvas.
🎟️ Tickets are now on sale for our reopening! Museum entry will be timed and capacity restricted to ensure the safety of our staff and visitors. Grab your ticket now: https://bit.ly/3iZaqOH
We are counting down the days until we can welcome you back to the Gardner on February 5!
📸: Ally Schmaling
An American ambulance driver, Chester A. Howell, gathered these stained glass fragments from Reims Cathedral after the cathedral was bombed by the Germans during World War I. At Howell’s request, interior decorator Henry Davis Sleeper gave the fragments to Isabella to be installed at the Museum. Sleeper had the fragments set into a panel made by the glass company Phipps, Ball & Burnham, Boston.
Image: Phipps, Ball & Burnham, Fragments from Reims Cathedral (detail), 18th century glass, 1919 panel. Stained glass.
#TBT to Isabella’s trip to Indonesia in December 1883 when she and husband Jack bought several krises - ceremonial Javanese knives - in the cities Surabaya and Yogyakarta. Isabella noted many purchases in her travel diaries, making them a useful tool in tracing the provenance of her objects.
Image: Javanese, Handle of a Kris (ceremonial knife), about 1800-1900. Gilded copper, wood core.
🎉 We are thrilled to announce that we will reopen our doors on Friday, February 5!
We’re excitedly preparing to welcome visitors back, filling our Courtyard with tropical plants to warm the soul, and reopening the doors to our exhibition, Shen Wei: Painting in Motion.
🎟️ Timed-entry tickets are required, and will be available to purchase starting tomorrow, January 29, at 11 am.
Planning a visit? Please visit http://bit.ly/3osEdAr for important visitor information. See you soon!
On this day in 1756, Wolfgang Amadeus #Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria. Isabella chose Mozart’s Overture to the Magic Flute to be one of the pieces of music played at the opening of her Museum in 1903. The performance took place in the Music Room, a concert hall that was located where the Spanish Cloister, Chinese Loggia, and Tapestry Room now stand. Check out our online Music Collection, featuring recordings of Mozart’s music performed at the Gardner Museum here: https://bit.ly/395weFn
Image: Thomas E. Marr and Son, Music Room, North Wall, Fenway Court (detail), 1914. Gelatin silver print.
It’s #TriviaTuesday! Do you know what this silver object, found in the Little Salon, was used for?
Answer: https://bit.ly/2VoYrjz
From collecting relics belonging to her presumed ancestor, Mary, Queen of Scots, to dressing in ways inspired by her, Isabella was determined to assert a regal heritage that matched the grandeur of her Palace. This week on the blog, we’re taking a closer look at Isabella’s fascination with the historic figure→ https://bit.ly/3a1UO8S
Image: William Ward, Mary, Queen of Scots Under Confinement (detail), 1793.
Painter Govaert Flinck was born #OnThisDay in 1615. When she purchased Landscape with an Obelisk, Isabella believed that the work was a Rembrandt, not a Flinck. In the 1980s, the work was attributed to Flinck, Rembrandt’s pupil. Isabella’s friend Bernard Berenson described to her the landscape in a letter, writing “your own eyes will tell you better than my poor prose what a poem it is.”
Image: Govaert Flinck, Landscape with an Obelisk, 1638. Oil on oak panel. Stolen in 1990.
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In this week’s #GardnerFromHome, Development Events Associate Katie Ryan talks about James McNeill Whistler’s early exploration of pastels, and uses his Note in Violet as a jumping-off point. To get a closer look at this delicate drawing found in the Veronese Room, visit our website here → http://bit.ly/2zrbTaK
In this week’s #GardnerFromHome, we’re heading to the Titian Room with Textile Collection Cataloguer, Dakota Jackson. Watch the video to learn about the history of one of the most important textiles in the Museum’s Collection, then get a closer look on our website→ https://bit.ly/3ib4lNN
This week’s #GardnerFromHome comes from Tiffany York, Assistant Director of the Residency Program and Special Projects, who leads us in a closer look (and perhaps deeper appreciation) for the Moravian tiles found throughout the Museum.
Timely. Important. Eye-opening. Boston's Apollo is now on view through October 12. See the show today → http://bit.ly/30bFLE5
Timely. Important. Eye-opening. Boston's Apollo is now on view through October 12. See the show today → http://bit.ly/30bFLE5
This week in #GardnerFromHome, Visitor Services Assistant Morgan O’Donnell-Curry takes us on a tour of the contemplative Chinese Loggia on the first floor of the Museum. For a closer look at the Votive Stele she describes in the video, please visit→ http://bit.ly/2Ze1jhl
#TBT to this past February, when artists Lorraine O'Grady and Adam Pendleton joined in conversation for The Larger Conversation: Redefined. O’Grady spoke about the highly personal work she created for the Museum’s facade, now on view through November 24. Learn more here: http://bit.ly/36em1SC Video by Bearwalk.
It's been wonderful to see visitors in our galleries once more! Plan your summer getaway, and reserve your tickets today→ isgm.org/visit Photos by Instagram users: austinkocker, lilmonster_66, paoavellanet, slawtatron, mario_leal, madisonkeefer, angieheeeee
This week’s #GardnerFromHome comes from Molly Phelps, Academic Programs Manager, who examines the complicated history behind an Indonesian buckle found in the Macknight Room. To get a closer look at the piece, visit our website → https://bit.ly/3gDweNL
This summer, let the Gardner Museum be a part of your Boston staycation! Reserve your tickets in advance, and join us for a safe and relaxing visit→ isgm.org/visit
NOW EXTENDED: Experience the immersive exhibition, Adam Pendleton's Elements of Me, now on view through November 15. Plan your visit→ http://bit.ly/31cFaT9
This week’s #GardnerFromHome comes to us from Visitor Services Associate and Security Guard Joe McGrath, who encourages us to look up in the Veronese Room and take in the massive painting, The Coronation of Hebe. Get a closer look at the artwork here→ http://bit.ly/2rKSA8m
Today's #GardnerFromHome by Ana Barrett, Artistic Administrator, comes from the intersection of music and visual art that is inherent in the Museum's DNA. To get a closer look at the Chinese watercolor, visit here → https://bit.ly/3jyCkkm And to listen to the song Rainbow Dance and Galloping Horses, please visit here: https://bit.ly/2CXNXR9
This week's #GardnerFromHome comes to us from our Public Programs Coordinator, Kolin Perry, who explores the unique collection of photography in the Museum! Get a closer look at the portrait of Howard Cushing here: http://bit.ly/2Jf8Dn9
This week’s #GardnerFromHome from our Ruettgers Curator of Landscape Charles Waldheim takes us outdoors to appreciate the geography on which the Museum sits, and the stunning gardens it houses. Learn more about the building of the Museum here→ https://bit.ly/2W5Uu2y
In this week’s #GardnerFromHome, let Assistant Curator of the Collection, Diana Greenwald, introduce you to Rosa Bonheur, a trailblazing queer artist who was a frequent fixture at the Paris Salon. Her work can be found in the Museum’s Blue Room! Get a closer look at the painting here→ http://bit.ly/2t2dUH0
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