Explore evidence of an artful life through Gardner's letters and keepsakes.
Gardner was an avid traveler who chronicled her journeys in twenty-eight photographic albums between 1867 and 1896. The objects selected here reveal her discovery of historic landscapes and cultural traditions in Egypt, England, and Italy.
Isabella Stewart Gardner
1874-1875
Gardner’s travel diary contains her handwritten narrative as well as commercial photographs and her own watercolor landscape studies. This page opening shows her interest in Egyptian mashrabiya, a type of window screened by latticework.
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John Ruskin
1850
Gardner admired the work of John Ruskin and acquired this drawing through her friend Charles Eliot Norton, a professor of fine art at Harvard University who was also Ruskin’s literary executor.
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Thomas E. Marr and Son
1904
Thomas Marr & Son, a photographic firm based in Boston, comprehensively photographed the interiors of Gardner’s museum. This photograph depicts the Museum’s majordomo, “Bolgi,” in dress uniform.
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Joseph Lindon Smith
1901-1903
Joseph Lindon Smith was an artist and close friend of Gardner’s. His fanciful design for the Museum’s majordomo uniform reflects their shared love of theatre and costuming.
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Isabella Stewart Gardner
1890
Gardner traveled widely in Europe between the 1860s and early 1900s, with extended stays in Italy. She relished the drama of cultural events such as the Palio di Siena, a yearly horse race depicted in her album.
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Isabella Stewart Gardner
1879
Jack and Isabella Gardner took two of their nephews on a tour of England in 1879. This page opening shows photographs of Christ Church Gate trimmed by Gardner herself as well as a coat of arms featuring a Y-shaped heraldic emblem.
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Hundreds of letters and cables flew across the Atlantic between Gardner and friends and dealers negotiating the shipment of her masterpieces to Boston. These reveal how she purchased works of art from afar—often sight unseen—with such speed.
Sarah Choate Sears
1903-1906
Gardner collected many striking portraits of her friends and associates, including this profile of art historian Bernard Berenson. Berenson was an important art advisor to Gardner and played a vital role in her acquisition of numerous masterpieces.
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Henri Matisse
1914
Matthew Stewart Prichard was the assistant director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and for a time lived in an apartment at Fenway Court. His friendship with Gardner influenced her ideas about contemporary art, especially the work of his friend Henri Matisse.
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Moise Dalla Torre
Late 19th century
Art dealers regularly sent Gardner photographic reproductions of works for sale, including the architectural salvage seen here. These arches would later be installed in the walls of the courtyard.
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About 1903
Elia Volpi was an art dealer in Florence who provided Gardner with this painstaking watercolor rendering of Piero della Francesca’s Hercules. The artist carefully rendered the cracks in the surface of the fresco to give Gardner a realistic idea of its condition.
Learn more about how Gardner collected Hercules in The End Justifies the Means.
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Henry Adams
1906
Historian Henry Adams was a close friend and occasional art advisor to Gardner. In this letter, he describes the stained glass window from Soissons Cathedral that is now installed in the third floor Chapel.
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Fernand Robert
1907
Modern conveyances made transatlantic shipping easier for American collectors at the turn of the twentieth century, and professional art handlers like Fernand Robert ensured the safe passage of Gardner’s masterpieces.
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Gardner maintained a position of influence amidst the glittering social networks of the Gilded Age, and saw her museum as a site of inspiration for the public. These objects showcase the artists, authors, and scholars who enlivened her museum.
Ernest Walter Histed
1899
Operatic soprano Dame Nellie Melba was a Gilded Age celebrity and admirer of both Gardner and her museum. She performed at Fenway Court in 1905, where she sang into the courtyard from the top of the stairs to the Dutch Room.
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Arthur Hewitt
1904
John Singer Sargent painted President Theodore Roosevelt’s portrait and acquired this autographed photograph on Gardner’s behalf. She placed it in a case in the Long Gallery alongside photographs of other statesmen.
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Carleton Watkins
1870s
Elizabeth Cary Agassiz was the co-founder and first president of Radcliffe College. Gardner requested this photograph for the collection, which was taken at Carleton Watkins’ studio in San Francisco.
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HMV
Early 20th century
John Singer Sargent and Gardner shared a love of world music, and he gave her a set of flamenco records as a token of their mutual interest. Her handwritten rating of the recording—“Good”—is visible on the label.
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Charles Dodgson, called Lewis Carroll
Gardner admired the work of Lewis Carroll and placed first editions of both Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass in the Long Gallery. This letter discusses Carroll’s work in photographic portraiture with a prospective sitter.
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Rabindranath Tagore
1913
Poet Rabindranath Tagore was a Nobel Laureate who met Gardner through their mutual friend Okakura Kakuzo. Tagore visited her at the Museum and presented her with this handwritten version of a poem for the collection.
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Copyright © 2016 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. All rights reserved.
Premier Exhibition Sponsor: The Richard C. von Hess Foundation. The opening reception and preview are generously sponsored by Tom and Lisa Blumenthal. Exhibition support is provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for Humanities. This exhibition also is supported in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which receives support from the State of Massachusetts and the National Endowment for the Arts. Any viewings, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this exhibition do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Media Sponsor: 90.9 WBUR, Boston’s NPR® News Station.
