Thomas E. Marr (Nova Scotia, 1849 - 1910, Boston)
West Cloister, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 1902
Glass plate negative
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Isabella worked with the Boston photographic firm Thomas E. Marr & Son, comprised of Thomas and his son Arthur, to document the museum's interiors. You can often see in these photographs Isabella's different iterations of the galleries from the museum's opening in 1903 to her death in 1924. This photograph was taken in 1902 before the museum opened to the public. Here the Courtyard is level with the West Cloister. Over the next 20 years, the courtyard sunk 5 feet; today there are steps leading down to the central Roman mosaic of Medusa.