In the early morning hours of March 18, 1990, 13 works of art were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Guards admitted two men posing as police officers responding to a disturbance call, and the thieves bound the guards and looted the museum over the next hour. The case is unsolved; no arrests have been made, and no works have been recovered. The stolen works have been valued at hundreds of millions of dollars by the FBI and art dealers. The museum offers a $10 million reward for information leading to the art's recovery, the largest bounty ever offered by a private institution.
The stolen works were originally procured by art collector Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840–1924) and were intended for permanent display at the museum with the rest of her collection. Among them was The Concert, one of only 34 known paintings by Johannes Vermeer and thought to be the most valuable unrecovered painting in the world. Also missing is The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, Rembrandt's only seascape. Other paintings and sketches by Rembrandt, Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet and Govert Flinck were stolen, along with a relatively valueless eagle finial and Chinese gu. Experts were puzzled by the choice of artwork, as more valuable works were left untouched. As the collection and its layout are intended to be permanent, empty frames remain hanging both in homage to the missing works and as placeholders for their return.
The FBI believes that the robbery was planned by a criminal organization. The case lacks strong physical evidence, and the FBI has largely depended on interrogations, undercover informants and sting operations to collect information. It has focused primarily on the Boston Mafia, which was in the midst of an internal gang war during the period. One theory holds that gangster Bobby Donati organized the heist to negotiate for his caporegime's release from prison; Donati was murdered one year after the robbery. Other accounts suggest that the paintings were stolen by a gang in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood, although these suspects deny involvement despite the fact that a sting operation resulted in several prison sentences. All have denied any knowledge or have provided leads that proved fruitless, despite the offer of reward money and reduced or canceled prison sentences if they had disclosed information leading to recovery of the artworks.
and 26 Related for: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum theft information
hours of March 18, 1990, 13 works of art were stolen from the IsabellaStewartGardnerMuseum in Boston. Guards admitted two men posing as police officers...
million, is offered for the return of the stolen items. IsabellaStewartGardnerMuseumtheft List of stolen paintings "Landscape with Obelisk, 1638 (oil...
was theft of The Scream, stolen from the Munch Museum in 2004, but recovered in 2006. The largest-value art theft occurred at the IsabellaStewart Gardner...
hung in the IsabellaStewartGardnerMuseum of Boston, Massachusetts prior to being one of thirteen works stolen from the museum in a 1990 theft. The authorship...
× 13 in). The painting hung in the IsabellaStewartGardnerMuseum of Boston, Massachusetts, United States prior to its theft in 1990 and it has not yet been...
being involved in the 1990 theft of art worth $500 million from Boston's IsabellaStewartGardnerMuseum, the largest art theft ever. Some accounts link...
American organized-crime figure suspected of masterminding the IsabellaStewartGardnerMuseumtheft Silvano (born 1942), scientist, professor of photonics Virgil...
Wheelock, 54 Wheelock, 58 Wheelock, 72 Stolen, a documentary about the theft of The Concert, from the PBS website NGA catalog entry Rankin, Jennifer...
Bernard Berenson for IsabellaStewartGardner in 1869 and was displayed at the IsabellaStewartGardnerMuseum in Boston before its theft in 1990; it remains...
Muralist The Art Forger The book is based on the unsolved IsabellaStewartGardnerMuseumtheft of thirteen works of art. The Safe Room Blind Spot See No...
IsabellaStewartGardnerMuseumtheft: Twelve paintings, collectively worth from $100 to $300 million, are stolen from the IsabellaStewartGardner Museum...
Among Thieves, the 2009 David Hosp novel inspired by the IsabellaStewartGardnerMuseumtheft Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, a 2009 video game Honor Among...
1 billion) which would make it the largest museum heist in history, surpassing the IsabellaStewartGardnerMuseumtheft of 1990. According to NPR, the "material...
Nationalgalerie theft, 27 May 1988 IsabellaStewartGardnerMuseumtheft, 18 March 1990 Lincoln's Inn theft, 16 September 1990 Houghton Hall theft, 30 September...
American documentary miniseries about the 1990 robbery of the IsabellaStewartGardnerMuseum in Boston. The four-part series was directed by Colin Barnicle...
1742. The Concert c. 1664–1665 - IsabellaStewartGardnerMuseum, Boston Missing since its theft in 1990. GardnerMuseum states regarding provenance, "Purchased...
Walter A. (2001). Vermeer and the Delft School. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Montias, John Michael (1989). Vermeer and His Milieu: A Web of Social...
Concert, from the PBS website. Goldfarb, Hilliard T. (1995). The IsabellaStewartGardnerMuseum: A Companion Guide and History. Yale University. pp. 97–98...
authorities believe is a person of interest in the $500 million IsabellaStewartGardnerMuseumtheft, is released from federal custody. The New Mexico legislature...
time IsabellaStewartGardnerMuseumtheft, 1990 robbery of 13 pieces worth $500 million from a Boston museum that was until 2019 the largest art theft and...
Vermeer painting, and then proceeds to follow her from room to room in a museum. The broker goes up to the actress, Anna, and introduces himself which spawns...
original on 1 May 2020. Retrieved 16 October 2012. "The Theft | IsabellaStewartGardnerMuseum". Archived from the original on 7 October 2020. Retrieved...
IsabellaStewartGardnerMuseum in Boston from 1989 until 2015. Founded in 1903 and one of Boston's most important cultural institutions, the museum is...