A Step Down Memory Lane -- The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum -- Reposting -- January 29, 2025

Locator: 48431MUSEUM.

Note: decades ago, the first love-of-my-life -- we were both in our early20's, I suppose -- maybe in our mid-20s -- she was a Harvard medical school student doing rotations at Mass General. I was going down a a similar road but out in Southern California. Linda lived in a brownstone apartment on Beacon Street, in the 400-block. It was a gorgeous location and a gorgeous apartment. How she could afford it, I do not know but she had the highest tastes so it did not surprise me. 

Years later I learned that Isabella Steward Gardner and her husband lived out their entire lives on that same street in Back Bay, Beacon Street in the 100-block. If she walked, it would have been a 16-minute walk for Linda from her apartment to Ms Gardner's apartment. I doubt either of us knew that at the time. 

Our lives were way too busy with other things. 

Beacon Street:

Some say the American dream is owning a big house.

Not me. My American dream would have been ....

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The note below was posted back in 2012. I happened to be reading about the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum again the other day and then happened across this post from thirteen (wow, thirteen!) years ago. It's worth posting again for the grandchildren and the archives.

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A note to the granddaughters

[After posting the note below, I got a few comments from others including Arne C. who directed me to his blog: http://miscbaseball.wordpress.com/2010/06/11/a-very-brief-historical-tour-of-fenway-park/]

Now I know why you love this art museum, Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

You have visited at least once, but that was before the new "wing." I visited it for the first time yesterday, and I was simply overwhelmed. I had never seen anything like it before, and my first impression was this is the best art museum I had ever seen.

Now, 24 hours later, reflecting on it, maybe it's a bit much to say this is the best art museum in the world, but it may be the best art museum experience in the world.  It certainly is a museum no one should miss. If you visit Boston and have time for only one museum, I think this would be it. And that's a tough call. Competing for your time: the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston; the JFK Library and Museum south of Boston; and, the Peabody Essex Museum, north of Boston in Salem/Essex. But whereas the MFA is a "typical" big city fine arts museum, the ISG is unique. The ISG Italian palace is part of the experience; for some (including me) the palace may be THE experience.

I was overwhelmed. Even though the new wing has been open now for several weeks, the line to purchase tickets still exceeded my expectations.  We walked through a long glass corridor to get to the palace. Immediately upon entering, one realizes one is in a different kind of museum. The three-story structure is built around a classic Italian courtyard. I was immediately reminded of the Roman baths in Bath, England. Absolutely spectacular. I explored three or four rooms/corridors/hallways in the immediate area after emerging from the glass corridor -- the rooms around the courtyard on the ground floor, and I realized I was overwhelmed. It was a unique experience. I did not have the same experience in the Louvre. I assume I had some idea of what to expect when visiting the Louvre for the first time, but I had no idea what to expect when visiting the ISG for the first time.

I went back to the new wing to collect my thoughts. In the opposite quadrant from the restaurant, is the "living room." Isabella Gardner loved books; in fact, I believe she started collecting books before she started collecting art, and throughout the museum -- I hate to call it a museum -- it's a palace -- are shelves of her books. I could spend hours in the "living room." With comfortable sofas and individual chairs, surrounded by books to be read by visitors, it is a most relaxing room. It is "outside" the palace proper and thus no admission charge. There were several books I spent some time with, but my two favorites: the 2012 anniversary edition celebrating the Boston Red Sox and Fenway Park; and the collected letters of Isabella Gardner and her co-conspirator in art collecting, Bernard Berenson. 

This is my snapshot of the ISG Museum story. Isabella loved life. She married a New York City man who created his own wealth through smart investments; they moved to Boston where they settled in the newly filled in Back Bay. She was not well educated but she more than made up for that by self-education for the rest of her life. She was devastated by the death of her 2-year old son. To get her out of her depression, her husband took her to Europe. That began her love for travel, Europe, particularly Italy, and an eye for collecting. She had taken some "adult courses" under a history professor at Harvard which was probably the life-altering event in her life with regard to art and history.

Through serendipity, she met a young (incredibly handsome) Harvard undergraduate Bernard Berenson who wanted to be the intermediary identifying, buying, and collecting art for a rich patron. He began scouring the continent for art work for Ms Gardner who had just inherited $1.6 million from her father upon his death.

She and Berenson collected art at the turn of the century and became a very, very close and successful team. The stories coming out of the museum suggest they had had a "come-to-Jesus" moment when she discovered he was being paid a handsome commission by European dealers from whom he bought art, as well as a five percent commission from Ms Gardner. Obviously it was to his advantage for the dealer to increase his prices. Berenson must have been extremely persuasive (and very, very good looking); Ms Gardner stuck with him. The relationship appears to have grown stronger and closer.

Unexpectedly her husband died about this time; I believe she was in her late 40's or 50's. (Let's see: she was born in 1840; the palace opened in 1903 -- so late 50's I guess.) Knowing she had little time left in her life, she began immediately designing and building an Italian palace to house her art collection. She chose an empty lot near where Fenway Park came to be. Fenway Court, as she called her palace, opened in 1903; Fenway Park in 1912. The ISG Museum is now just a few blocks (within walking distance of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts) on the Green Line.

For more, visit the ISG Museum website.

Incidentally, there's a little nook, a little corner on the first floor with two chairs, a table with a dozen books, and a lamp. I don't know if Ms Gardner placed that ensemble there herself but it has "her" feeling. I don't think many visitors realize it provides an opportunity for folks like me, who become overwhelmed, to simply sit and reflect on this most personal of personal museums, as some have described this palace.

Oh, and by the way, the lunch menu was very unique and the food excellent, including affordable wines. I had a Samuel Adams -- you know, I was just reminded that Paul Revere was captured before he completed his midnight ride. Walt Whitman admitted he used artistic license to write his poem. But, Paul Revere was able to warn his close friends Sam Adams and John Hancock before he was captured. But I digress.