Manet’s Mother

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The Thrill of the Chase: Isabella’s First Rembrandt

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Reflections on a Legacy

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Isabella’s Apartment on the Fourth Floor

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Unveiling Moroccan Heritage: John Singer Sargent's Incensing the Veil

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The Prince's Chairs in the Titian Room

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Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee: James McNeill Whistler

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A. Piatt Andrew, the “A” to Mrs. Gardner’s “Y”

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The Spirit of Violets

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Notes on a Treacherous Becoming

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A Saint’s Many Faces: The Altar of Saint Maurice and the Theban Legion

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The Vinegar Tasters

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“Listen And You Shall Hear”: The Gardner Museum Autograph of Longfellow’s “Paul Revere’s Ride”

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Dodge Macknight: Boston’s Watercolor Painter

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Laser Cleaning: William Morris Hunt’s The Horses of Anahita

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Did They or Didn't They? F. Marion Crawford and Isabella Stewart Gardner

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Isabella Stewart Gardner’s Travels in India

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Traces of Decoration on a Chinese Mirror-Black Vase

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Henry Mercer’s Moravian Pottery and Tile Works at Fenway Court

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Steve McQueen's Lynching Tree

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The Elusive White Fox by Okakura Kakuzō

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The Auspicious Arrival of the Jade: Herald of Good Fortune

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The Story Behind John Singer Sargent’s Portrait of Isabella Stewart Gardner

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Gustave Courbet’s Landscape Cleaned Up

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Marie Antoinette in the Gardner Museum

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From Paris to the Perkins School for the Blind: Isabella’s Purple Slippers

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Searching for Answers: Isabella’s Native American Basket

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Mesmerizing and Masterful Miniatures: History and Treatment of Snuff Bottles

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FROM ISABELLA’S MUSIC ROOM TO SYMPHONY HALL: COMPOSER MARGARET RUTHVEN LANG

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Technical Study of an 11th-12th Century Guanyin Sculpture

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Correspondence from Cochin the Cat

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Connecting Cultural Worlds: An Embroidery from India Celebrating Portugal’s Monarchy

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Visions of Agapanthus

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From A Little Spark May Burst A Flame: Ackroyd & Harvey’s ‘Script’

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Secrets of the Gardner Museum Collection’s Furniture

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Musician Roland Hayes’ 80th Birthday Celebration

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Botticelli’s Virgin and Child: Infrared and Ultraviolet Light Imaging

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Isabella and the Complexities of Mother’s Day

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“Spain Says It All:” Isabella Stewart Gardner’s Travel Albums

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Treasure Chest: Isabella’s Gilt Vitrine

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Deceptive Intimacy: Isabella Stewart Gardner’s 1883 Japan Travel Albums

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Leafing Through Isabella’s Travel Album: Spain and Portugal, Volume II, 1888

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Saint Christopher: World's Best Travel Companion

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Betye Saar & The Gardner Museum: A Long-Standing Relationship

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The Orchid Habit: Under the Spell of the Cymbidium

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Making Reproductions of Two Hanging Scroll Paintings at the Gardner Museum

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Mirrors with a Memory: The Gardner Family Daguerreotypes

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Francesco Pesellino’s Painting and Men’s Fashion in the Italian Renaissance

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Open House: How Isabella’s Home Exhibition Funded Trailblazing Cotting School

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The Misattributed Ballerina: Louis Kronberg or Edgar Degas?

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In the Soldier’s Service: Mary Dexter, Isabella Stewart Gardner, and Caring for the Soldiers of WWI

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Isabella’s Reliquary of Friendship: Her Bond with Okakura Kakuzō

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Isabella Stewart Gardner and Simone Martini

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The Medusa Mosaic in the Courtyard

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Isabella’s Delightful Stone Fruit Baskets

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Isabella Stewart Gardner, the American West, and Central America

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Lady Augusta Gregory: One of Isabella’s Pen Pals

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The History of Labor Day and the Laborers Who Built the Gardner Museum

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Revealing the Layers of European Painted Wood Sculptures Using XRF Technology

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Isabella’s Children's Books: From the Babes in the Wood to Doctor Dolittle

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Relics of an Emperor: Napoleon Bonaparte in the Gardner Museum

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John Singer Sargent, Isabella Stewart Gardner, and Spain

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The Promise of the Chimney Bellflower

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Inside the French Authors Case: Alexandre Dumas

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Isabella’s Spiritual Life Revealed

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How The Magic Flute Inspired Maurice Sendak and Isabella Stewart Gardner

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The Secrets Revealed by the Long Gallery Stools’ Conservation

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Une Femme Bibliophile: Isabella’s Book of Hours by Bourdichon

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The Story of Bus Park: How Isabella’s Children’s Books Fueled Nari Ward’s Imagination

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Isabella’s Bookworm Friendship with Vernon Lee

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Isabella's Desk of Curiosities in the Macknight Room

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Restoring A Portrait by Andreas Martin Andersen

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The Overlooked Female Photographer, Clover Adams

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Isabella and Okakura Kakuzō’s Impactful Friendship

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A Rare and Unique Turkish Tile

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Isabella Stewart Gardner and Her Horses

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The Story Behind Isabella’s Venetian Campanile Cup

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Remembering Isabella: Her Yearly Memorial Service

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Conserving the Works on Paper of the Short Gallery

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The Elevation of the Nasturtium: From Plate To Palace Garden

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Ethel Smyth: Composer and Activist

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The Five Frames Left Behind

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Women on Display: Elizabeth Wentworth Roberts

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The Story Behind Porsha Olayiwola’s Poetry

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Beger Sølv- The Gardner’s Hanseatic Beaker

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Visiting Fenway Court in the Days of Isabella

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Those Who Come Before Us Help Make Us Who We Are

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Francesco Torbido and the Diversity of 16th century Venice

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Isabella’s Lace

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Forever is a Long Time

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The New Wing a Decade Later

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Ovid, Titian, and the Depiction of Violence Against Women

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Inside the Collection Blog

Dig deeper into our collections with our most recent stories.

  • A painted portrait of a white woman with dark hair and blue eyes seated wearing a black dress.

    Manet’s Mother

    The imperfect, perfect portrait. Madame Auguste Manet’s portrait is understated, powerful, mesmerizing, and modern.
  • A painting of a young man with a hat and decorative robe looks directly at the viewer

    The Thrill of the Chase: Isabella’s First Rembrandt

    A youthful self-portrait by the most famous Dutch painter was the object of Gardner's ambitious reach—and helped inspire her museum.
  • Color photograph of the courtyard at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

    Reflections on a Legacy

    The legacy of the Museum’s founder, who was ahead of her time, continues to inspire in more ways than she could have imagined.
  • Color photograph of a dining room with a table with 8 chairs, four bay windows, a fireplace a nd a large piece of art over the fire place.

    Isabella’s Apartment on the Fourth Floor

    The simple and understated private living quarters of Isabella Stewart Gardner.
  •  A woman with medium-dark-skin in a long, white robe and holds a sheet over her head and the incense burner at her feet.

    Unveiling Moroccan Heritage: John Singer Sargent's Incensing the Veil

    Learn how the watercolor Incensing the Veil is a testament to the beauty and resilience of Moroccan culture with Gardner Ambassador Fatima Zahra Najd.
  • Color photo of an ornate gold chair with a flower panel

    The Prince's Chairs in the Titian Room

    Once created for Italian nobility, the seven gilded armchairs in the Titian Room now reign as some of the most remarkable pieces of furniture in the Gardner’s collection. Learn how these chairs made their way from a Roman palace to Boston’s very own Italian palazzo.
  • A black and white photograph of a man with dark, curly hair and a mustache, resting his chin on one hand.

    Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee: James McNeill Whistler

    What do James McNeill Whistler and Lady Danbury of Bridgerton fame have in common? Both used walking sticks as an icon of social status, authority and fashion. Read more about Whistler’s walking stick and its place in Isabella Stewart Gardner’s collection.
  •  A painting of the head and shoulders of a white man with short dark hair dressed in a tan suit, white shirt, and red cravat.

    A. Piatt Andrew, the “A” to Mrs. Gardner’s “Y”

    There’s the Rat Pack, the Brat Pack, and Isabella Stewart Gardner’s “Dabsville” Pack—and its beating heart(throb).
  • Pots of purple pansies

    The Spirit of Violets

    Explore the hidden meanings and queer symbolism of the violet, the original valentine.