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| Corner of the frame which once held Vermeer's 1664 painting "The Concert" sketch by Gregory E. Larson, AIA |
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum:
Eclectic Museum, Infamous Heist
essay
by Gregory E. Larson, AIA
The empty
gilded frames in the subdued light of the Dutch Room screamed at me. I felt
violated, and could only imagine Isabella Gardner’s pain, had she been alive to
witness the aftermath of the world’s largest unsolved art theft which occurred
in March of 1990. Thirteen pieces of art were hauled away in the early morning
darkness from the famous Boston museum that bears her name. The betrayal of her
trust in the public would have shaken her to the core. The items, including
paintings by Vermeer, Rembrandt and Degas, have never been found nor has anyone
been charged with the crime. The theft was a huge loss for the museum, but the
remaining art is a varied and broad collection, arranged in a unique setting
designed by Isabella.
Isabella
Stewart Gardner (1840-1924) was born and married into the high-society circles of Boston. Throughout
her life, she was known for her spunky, vibrant personality. As a child, she
disobeyed her parents one summer and ran to see the circus, while the family
butler followed in chase.
Her interest
in the arts began as a teen-ager, and it continued to grow stronger in her
adult life. She married John Lowell Gardner, Jr., another wealthy Bostonian, in
1860, and gave birth to a boy, John III. Then tragedy struck in 1865, when the
boy died of pneumonia at the age of two. Isabella was distraught and struggled
with depression and illness for the next two years. Her husband was concerned,
and he recommended they take a trip to Europe to help her recuperate. Once
there, she experienced the cathedrals, the Paris Exposition, as well as museums
full of old masters paintings. Her passion for art grew and it became an
addiction which she fueled with her family inheritance and her husband’s wealth.
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| Isabella Stewart Gardner - 1888 www.gardnermuseum.org |
By the 1890s,
Isabella snatched up European paintings from under the noses of East coast male
collectors, outbidding the likes of J.P. Morgan and Andrew Mellon. She continued
to enlarge her collection and dreamed of a gallery to share her art with the
public.
The second
tragedy in her life occurred in 1894 when her husband died of a stroke at the
age of sixty-one. After his death, Isabella threw her energy into creating a
unique museum to display the collection of art and artifacts. Not wanting to
build an antiseptic repository, she used her creative genius to help design and
construct an Italian Renaissance-style building that turned inward towards a
four-story courtyard that breathed life and light onto every floor of the
museum.
Each room or gallery became an experience in itself, a setting to view and appreciate art. Once the building was completed on a site adjacent to Boston’s Back Bay Fens, Isabella spent over a year arranging an eclectic mix of furniture, wall-covering, and artwork, spending countless hours creating the mix and ambience we see today. In her will, she stipulated that the museum, completed and opened in 1903, was never to be altered in any way.
On March 18,
1990, on a cold dark morning after St. Patrick’s Day, the peaceful co-existence
between the museum and the Boston public was shattered. At 1:24 A.M., two
men dressed as Boston police approach the side entry to the museum to notify
one of the two guards on duty that they were responding to a disturbance. Without
making a confirmation call to the police department, the guard allowed the two
men inside. The imposters handcuffed the guards and tied them up in the
basement. Free to roam, the thieves selected artwork from several galleries.
The paintings, created on centuries-old canvas or wood backing, were cut from
their frames. The most notable theft was a Vermeer titled The Concert. One of only thirty-six Vermeer paintings in existence,
it is valued at $300 million. Included in the heist were two oddly selected
pieces: an eagle finial removed from a Napoleonic flag, and a small Chinese
beaker. Between 2:41 and 2:45 A.M., the thieves made two trips out the side
door to load the items into an escape vehicle. It is assumed a second vehicle,
probably a van, was waiting to deliver the stolen art to an undisclosed
location. The thieves removed the security tapes during their exit, leaving
scant evidence of the raid on the museum.
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| Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum - view from Fenway Drive - Boston, MA photo by William Peregoy http//wperegoy.wordpress.com |
Each room or gallery became an experience in itself, a setting to view and appreciate art. Once the building was completed on a site adjacent to Boston’s Back Bay Fens, Isabella spent over a year arranging an eclectic mix of furniture, wall-covering, and artwork, spending countless hours creating the mix and ambience we see today. In her will, she stipulated that the museum, completed and opened in 1903, was never to be altered in any way.
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| The Dutch Room - Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum - Boston, MA www.gardnermuseum.org |
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| "The Concert" by Vermeer www.essentialvermeer.com |
Wearing
disguises, Connor and an accomplice walked into the Boston Museum of Fine Arts
in broad daylight in 1975. They yanked a Rembrandt painting from the wall, ran
from the museum with the guards in pursuit, and successfully eluded the cops by
driving the getaway car onto a sidewalk, squeezing around a Coca-Cola truck
which blocked an escape street. Connor arranged the anonymous return of the
painting as a bargaining chip to reduce the length of a looming prison sentence
for his previous theft of some N.C. Wyeth paintings.
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| Boston Museum of Fine Arts Fenway Drive Entrance where Myles J. Connor, Jr., exited in 1975 with stolen Rembrandt painting. photo by Gregory E. Larson, AIA |
When the
Gardner heist occurred in 1990, Connor was in prison in Illinois. That fact didn’t
stop the FBI from interviewing him about the theft at the Gardner in Boston.
There remains the possibility that he masterminded the crime from his prison
cell. He openly admits that he always contemplated robbing the Gardner Museum,
and made reconnaissance visits and stake-outs to watch the museum’s operation.
Another top suspect
is David Turner, Massachusetts good-guy-turned-bad. Turner ran in similar
circles to Myles Connor, Jr. He linked up with local Mafia bosses and became ruthless
to anyone who dared to double-cross him or turn as a witness against him.
Several people who attempted to defy him, including his boyhood friend, were
brutally murdered, but there was never enough evidence to convict Turner of any
of the killings. A year and a half after the Gardner Heist, Turner was
implicated and taken to trial for his alleged involvement in a $50,000 Labor
Day weekend robbery of the Bull and Finch Pub on Beacon Street, the bar which
was the pattern for the famous Cheers television
show. The prosecution set up generous plea-bargain agreements with those who
implicated Turner, but during the trial, Turner’s lawyer, Marty Leppo, was able
to discredit the witnesses, and Turner was acquitted.
At various
times, the FBI clearly paved the way for leniency for both Connor and Turner,
hoping they would assist in getting the Gardner art returned, but neither
provided the information needed to crack the case. It’s very possible that
either Connor or Turner was involved in the heist, or they know the individuals who stole the artwork.
The higher
echelons of the New England Mafia may have control of the paintings, but it is possible the
thieves who carried out the original crime don't know what happened
to the artwork after the van drove away from the museum in the dark of night.
The FBI
continues to investigate the Gardner heist and has posted a five million dollar
reward for information leading to the return of the paintings. Their recent
investigation has brought two more East coast Mafia names into the limelight:
Robert Guarente, deceased, and Robert Gentile, currently serving unrelated
sentences for gun possession and drug sales.
Robert Guarente
was a friend of David Turner and he frequented with associates who knew Myles
Connor, Jr. Guarente died in 2004 while living on the coast of Maine. His wife,
who was interrogated by the FBI, claimed she saw her husband put one of the
stolen paintings into the trunk of Gentile’s car in 2002. Gentile flatly denied
the statements by Guarente’s wife, but the FBI wasn’t dissuaded. They searched
Gentile’s property and found a list of the stolen art and a 1990 newspaper clipping
describing the heist. Gentile also failed a polygraph test. Although the FBI
believes they are close to solving the case, it appears they have only
circumstantial evidence that the two men were involved, and no one has provided
information as to the whereabouts of the artwork.
If the
paintings are found and returned, it is unlikely they will be in good
condition. Four-hundred year-old canvas which has been cut with a knife blade
doesn’t repair easily. The paintings would suffer further deterioration if they
have not been stored in a climate controlled space.
Over
twenty-four years have passed since the theft, which has been one of the most
publicized crimes in history. The infamous heist has become a part of popular
culture, spawning theories and fictional stories as to the whereabouts of the
paintings. Copies of the artwork have appeared on walls of various episodes of
popular television shows.
Meanwhile,
the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum continues as a vibrant Boston institution.
A new wing, designed by internationally famous architect, Renzo Piano, has been
added. The delicate addition of steel and glass, which contrasts to the
original building, serves as the main entry and includes a gift shop, lounge,
cafeteria, meeting rooms and galleries.
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| Entry and new wing - Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum photo by Gregory E. Larson, AIA |
The museum
remains hopeful the artwork will eventually be returned, while the empty
frames, which are a daily reminder of the crime, hang on the walls in their
original locations in the building designed by Isabella. Crowds pay homage to Isabella’s
dream-come-true. But when they enter the galleries, they pause at the blank frames and stand in a worship-like state, viewing the voids with a
mixture of curiosity, sadness, disgust and pain.
During my
visit to the Gardner Museum, I looked out onto the sunlit walls of the lush
courtyard and felt Isabella's presence. What emotions would she harbor if
she were with us? How would she cope with another tragedy?
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| Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum - courtyard www.gardnermuseum.org |
Sources:
Boser, Ulrich. The
Gardner Heist: the true story of the world’s largest unsolved art theft. New
York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 2009.
Connor, Myles J., Jr. and Siler, Jenny. The Art of the Heist: confessions of a
master art thief, rock-and-roller, and prodigal son. New York, NY:
HarperCollins Publishers, 2009.
Newcomb, Alyssa – via World News. Thieves in Half-Billion Dollar Art Heist Identified By FBI. ABC World News, March 18, 2013. website: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/fbi-thieves-identified-1990-art-heist-isabella-stewart/story?id=18757276
Valencia, Milton J,- Globe staff. Alleged Mafia figure linked to Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist
gets 30-month sentence. Boston, MA. Boston Globe Metrodesk, May 9, 2013.website:
http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2013/05/09/mafia-figure-linked-isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-heist-gets-month-sentence/wyZtsAMOiZDKXJ2qa7sb3O/story.html
Mahony, Edmund H. A
Hartford Wise Guy And A $500 Million Museum Heist. Hartford, CT. Hartford
Courant, May 18, 2013. website: http://articles.courant.com/2013-05-18/news/hc-gardner-gentile-0513-20130518_1_robert-guarente-robert-gentile-gentile-claims
What a lucid summary! I've widely read what has been published on the subject -- to include the FBI's 302s -- and find this to be a great report. It is far more elucidating than the recent brief AP item.
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