Last week I was invited to a VIP tour of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, guided by their Chief Curator. What I found was a woman who turned grief into one of the most unconventional art collections in American history — and who once glued tea-box tinfoil to her dining room walls because she liked the way it looked. I even got to stand two feet from a Rembrandt that survived the largest unsolved art heist in history! This is the story of Isabella Stewart Gardner, and why she knew the riskiest thing you can do is play it safe.
Last week I was invited to a VIP tour of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, guided by their Chief Curator. What I found was a woman who turned grief into one of the most unconventional art collections in American history — and who once glued tea-box tinfoil to her dining room walls because she liked the way it looked. I even got to stand two feet from a Rembrandt that survived the largest unsolved art heist in history! This is the story of Isabella Stewart Gardner, and why she knew the riskiest thing you can do is play it safe,.
In this episode:
- Who Isabella Stewart Gardner was, and why she remains one of the most unconventional art collectors in American history
- How personal loss — the death of her young son Jackie — led Isabella to start traveling and collecting art
- The artists and friends in Isabella's orbit, including John Singer Sargent, Henry James, and Johannes Brahms
- A close encounter with Rembrandt's 1629 self-portrait — the only surviving piece from Isabella's original five Rembrandts
- The story of the 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist, the largest unsolved art theft in history
- A recommendation for the podcast "Last Seen" by Kelly Horan and WBUR, which covers the heist in depth
- The surprising detail about silver tea-box tinfoil glued to Isabella's dining room walls — and why it made me love her even more
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Hey there, I'm Tricia Rose Burt. And in this podcast, we talk to artists who show us how to find the courage to take risks, step out of our comfort zones, and use our creativity to make our work and change our world. Pay close attention, because this is no time to be timid.
If you're looking for an unconventional role model, I've got one for you. Last week, my pal Amy Grant was performing in Boston, promoting her new album, "The Me That Remains". She had a day off, and she invited me to come down and join her for a VIP tour of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Now, I've been to that museum several times, but lucky me — this time I got to be one of four people guided through the museum by Chief Curator Nat Silver and the director of HR, Nick Mackey.
The museum has close to 230 employees. It takes a lot of people to keep museums going. Now, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is named after the woman who built it. And Isabella was not just any woman. Born in 1840, she was a force — at a time when women were expected to behave. One of my favorite stories about her is that she owned two giant diamonds, and instead of having them mounted in some traditional form of jewelry, like a brooch, she had them mounted on a headband on springs. It was like she was wearing antennae, except with two giant diamonds. I so wish I could have been friends with her.
As we wandered through the museum, Nat told us Isabella's story. This whole beautiful monument to art came from loss. When she was newly married, Isabella's little boy Jackie died from pneumonia just before his second birthday. She was devastated. Her doctors told her travel would help her heal. So in her grief, Isabella and her husband started traveling the world — something they would do throughout their lives, when traveling wasn't easy. And during their travels, Isabella started collecting art. When her beloved father died, she received an inheritance of $2.75 million, which is about $80 million today. And with that, her collecting went into hyperdrive.
She was the first to bring works by Raphael, Michelangelo, and Titian to the United States. Her collection of sculpture includes some of the earliest Chinese antiquities to come to America. She actually landed Vermeer's "The Concert", outbidding the National Gallery in London and the Louvre — putting herself on the map of international collectors. And she surrounded herself with artists across mediums, including John Singer Sargent, who painted her several times, and those paintings are on display at the museum. You must go see them if you're in the area. And the author Henry James. The composer Johannes Brahms. Isabella knew there was courage in community, and they no doubt cheered her on as she built this incredible museum to house her collections and share them with the public.
Nat and Nick pointed out objects we might have missed — like the child-sized sarcophagus in the garden courtyard, where Isabella could meditate on the child she lost. Or the priceless Italian Renaissance painting hung almost out of sight, but near a window so it'd be shown in the best light. How all of the fabric on the walls may be the same color, but they're different patterns, each placed according to Isabella's taste. She was very particular about how these works would be displayed, which is why in her will, everything is to stay exactly as it is.
Then Nat was like, "Hey, do you want to see where we restore the paintings?" And we were like, yes we do. There were at least three paintings in the process of being restored, and one of them was Rembrandt's self-portrait, painted in 1629 when he was 23. We were standing two feet from this masterpiece. I kind of couldn't breathe.
On its own, this Rembrandt is special enough. But it's even more special because it's the only one remaining of Isabella's original collection of five Rembrandts. The other four were tragically lost in 1990 — stolen in what remains the greatest art heist in history. The thieves stole more than $500 million of art, 13 items in all, including five Degas sketches, Rembrandt's only seascape, and Vermeer's *The Concert*. None of the works have been recovered.
Now, if you're a listener to this podcast, you may remember our guest from Season One, Kelly Horan from the Boston Globe. She created a riveting podcast on the heist called *Last Seen*, in partnership with WBUR. I highly recommend it — it's fascinating.
So after we recovered from seeing the Rembrandt, they said, "Hey, do you want to go see our offices? That's where Isabella used to live." And again, we were like, yes please. We walked into her dining room, which is now their conference room, and I have to tell you, I just gasped at the wall coverings. This fabulous metallic surface — these shiny squares, all different sizes. It was just beautiful. And they told us that's the silver tinfoil she got out of tea boxes, and she glued it on the wall.
As a person who used to work with used tea bags for years, I loved this woman even more. Unconventional to her core, Isabella Stewart Gardner knew that the riskiest thing she could do was play it safe. And she left an amazing legacy because of it.
If you're in Boston, stop by the museum. And in the meantime, remember — this is no time to be timid.
Thanks for joining us. And if you like what you hear, please review our podcast, subscribe to the show, and spread the word. It really helps build our audience. And remember, this is no time to be timid.
*No Time to Be Timid* is written and produced by me, Tricia Rose Burt. Our episodes are produced and scored by Adam Arnone of Echo Finch. Our executive producers are Amy Grant, Nancy Perot, and Sage Wheeler. I'd also like to thank the contributors to my Fractured Atlas fiscal sponsorship, which helps make this podcast happen. No Time to Be Timid is a presentation of No Time to Be Timid Productions.