Seeing is Believing

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Gardner rarely had the luxury of seeing works in person before buying them, but this regal figure captured her attention.

In 1900, Gardner visited the Universal Exposition in Paris, an elaborate celebration of the last century's progress and a heady glimpse of what was ahead. With her was a family friend, artist Ralph Curtis — and throngs of other people, hundreds of thousands each day, mobbing the halls of the world's fair.

The Exposition boasted all manner of captivating sights, from a ferris wheel to talking films. There were pagodas from Japan and a mock Elizabethan mansion. But in the Belgian Pavilion, Gardner and Curtis saw what was for them the most wondrous thing: a gilded painting of a noble woman who became a saint.

Saint Engracia Bartolomé Bermejo, about 1474

The glittering painting was owned by the Belgian collector and diplomat Léon de Somzée. It was the central panel of an altarpiece about the life of Engracia, a Portuguese princess (and later a saint) brutally tortured by the Romans. Perhaps drawn to the vibrant colours and rich surface detail or the story of a martyred noblewoman, Gardner and Curtis both responded with interest.

The Exposition’s enormous structures hinted at the wonders to be seen. A colorful poster advertised the offerings of the Belgium Pavilion, where Saint Engracia was on display.

Ralph Curtis

In addition to being an artist whose pieces Gardner collected, Ralph Curtis was one of many advisers she relied on to help her acquire great works for her museum. The Curtis family’s palazzo on the Grand Canal in Venice was a source of inspiration for Gardner's museum.

Palazzo Barbaro About 1894

Curtis sent Gardner a small black-and-white photo of the painting to remind her of its beauty. She kept it in one of her sketchbooks.

In 1904, there was a surprising development in the tale of Saint Engracia: she was for sale. Ralph Curtis wrote to his friend reminding her of their great admiration for the work and encouraging her to acquire it.

Curtis tasked Gardner's regular agent in Paris, Fernand Robert, with securing the painting at the upcoming Brussels auction. Most of Gardner’s acquisitions were made sight unseen, based on second-hand descriptions or black and white photographs from her advisors. Saint Engracia would be one of the very few times she purchased a work she had seen herself.

Meet the Collector

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