Object details
Object number
ARC.009117
Creator(s)
Isabella Tod Stewart
(Suffield, Connecticut, 1778 - 1848, Jamaica, Long Island, New York)
Title
Music Book
Date
1792
Medium
Handwritten ink on paper in a composite and leather binding
Language
English
Description
1 vol., 7 p. [used; rest are blank]; 12°
Dimensions
20.5 x 19 cm (8 1/16 x 7 1/2 in.)
Signatures, inscriptions, and markings
Inscribed in ink (on label, on cover): Isabella Tod's / Music Book / August 30th 1792
Provenance
Collection of Isabella Stewart Gardner's grandmother, Isabella Tod Stewart (1778-1848). Presumably bequeathed by Isabella Tod Stewart to Isabella Stewart Gardner.
Commentary
Isabella Stewart Gardner kept several possessions of her paternal grandmother and namesake Isabella Tod Stewart in the museum's galleries--including this music book. The elder Isabella's interest in music likely influenced her granddaughter who played the piano and was a patron of artists and musicians. She kept this book in the Vatichino, her personal treasure trove.
Bibliography
Diana Seave Greenwald, "The Original Isabella Stewart," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 4 May 2021, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/original-isabella-stewart
Nathaniel Silver and Diana Seave Greenwald. Isabella Stewart Gardner: A Life (Boston, 2022), p.23, fig. 6.
Gallery
Vatichino
Rights and reproductions
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