Vatichino

Isabella Stewart Gardner playfully called this narrow gallery the Vatichino—the little Vatican. Located just a few steps from her desk in the adjacent Macknight Room, it originally contained 1,850 objects, including works of fine and decorative art, photographs of her family and friends, travel souvenirs and albums, and more than one thousand books. Only occassionally open to visitors during Gardner's lifetime, it was deinstalled in 1972 and made into a coatroom. In 2019, the Vatichino was reinstalled with objects listed on an inventory and returned to public view.