Dodge MacKnight - Letter to Isabella Stewart Gardner, April 1909

Dodge MacKnight (Providence, 1860 - 1950, Sandwich, Massachusetts)

Letter to Isabella Stewart Gardner, April 1909

Ink on paper

Commentary

Isabella Stewart Gardner’s friends often sent her gifts from their travels. In this letter, Gardner’s friend Dodge Macknight talks about a Spanish altar frontal he sent her for her birthday, noting that if Gardner did not like it, she could “exchange it at any time for anything I carry in stock.” Clearly Gardner appreciated the gift, because she chose to place the striking altar frontal in the Spanish Chapel.