William Amory Gardner (Boston, 1863 - 1930, Groton, Massachusetts)
Letter to Isabella Stewart Gardner from 65 Unter den Linden, Berlin, Germany, about 1886
Ink on paper
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Commentary
While William Amory Gardner was in Greece in 1886, he purchased two figurines for his aunt, Isabella Stewart Gardner. Thinking that they were real ancient sculptures, William Amory attempted to smuggle them out of Greece via a man named Lambros. During the 19th century, it was illegal to export ancient artifacts from Greece without permission from the government, but it was common for illicit antiquities to end up in private and public collections across the world. It was also common for travelers in Greece to unknowingly pay exorbitant prices for modern copies of antiquities. In this letter from Berlin, William Amory tells his aunt that Lambros failed to make the rendezvous point to drop off the figurines, and explains that he believes the figurines are actually fakes. Despite his apparent doubts about their authenticity and the illegality of their export, William Amory, also known as WAG to friends and family, gave the figurines to Isabella in 1903 at the opening of her museum. As it turns out, WAG was right to suspect the figurines; they were modern copies of ancient artifacts.