The Lady Behind the Portrait: ISGM
originally written 8/8/14
Isabella Stewart Gardner stood in front of a red and gold oriental arabesque fabric with a permanent stance of anticipation. She had an intent gaze faced straight ahead and on her milky white face her lips quivered through a tiny smile. She flaunted her figure with black ‘V’ neck gown and wore a choker of pearls with a ruby around her neck. Her tight outfit exaggerated her hourglass body with two strings of pearls wrapped around her waist. Gardner’s shoulders were back, arms beside her, as her hands gently held one another. An illusion of light made the top half of her body glow while the bottom half of her gown was casted in deep shadows.
Over a 120 years ago artist John Singer Sargent $3,000 was commissioned to paint her portrait, which now hangs in the Gothic Room of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Sargent was famous for his portraitures and captured a life-sized image of Gardner. He had an uncanny ability to create light in his paintings making Gardner shine in an ethereal sunlight. From only looking at the painting there was no way to tell that this woman more than a dainty philanthropist. Take an hour walking tour of the museum and you’ll learn much more than what meets the eye.
“You either loved her or hated her,” said Ray Oliva, tour guide at the ISGM.
When her portrait was first exhibited at Boston’s St. Botolph Club in 1888 Gardner received wide acclaim as well as snarky criticism. Her portrait was very unusual for the time. Women’s portraits were always seated and commonly painted as a profile. In Gardner’s portrait she was standing, looking forward, and wore a provocative dress. People went further to pointing out that the pattern of the fabric behind her head symbolized a halo and crown. Critics claimed Gardner wanted to portray herself as a modern ‘Madonna’. The unwanted attention made Gardner’s husband request that she did not display the painting again until after his death. Her portrait was moved into the Gothic Room and kept private from the public until she passed away in 1924.
Gardner didn’t take the heart what people thought about her. Her female peers looked down on her adventurous lifestyle traveling the world and when she married Boston’s most eligible bachelor John Lowell Gardner. Some times it was just the fact that she was from New York City. She was a small woman only at 4’ 11’’, but was never afraid to express her opinions and be the boss. When she hired Sargent to do her portrait she had him re-render her face 9 times until she was satisfied. It wasn’t the large sum of money that made him put up with her bold personality, but they were also long time friends. She allowed Sargent for several years to use the Gothic Room as his studio.
Gardner was very meticulous person especially when it came to building her home in Fenway and how she wanted her large art collection to be displayed. The Gothic Room was made to mimic a medieval church and displayed prominent Christian art from the era. A large rose window and stained glass made the dark wooden walls of the room light up. There were paintings of Christ, his disciples, and wooden statuary of saints that dated back to the 14th and 15th centuries. Playing off the banter of her ‘Madonna’ image she placed her painting in the corner of the room with a large Spanish chest in front to resemble an altar. When this room was opened after her death, people could always view the immortalized image of Gardner surrounded by her collection of religious art.
“There are no accidents in this building,” said Oliva.
There are over 2,500 objects, paintings, sculptures, furniture, and textiles that she collected in her lifetime. Gardner specifically designed the layout of each room. The first three floors of the building are galleries and the fourth floor was Gardner’s apartment where lived the last days of her life. The floor has now been converted into offices for the Museum staff.
Walk through the glass corridor from the New Wing to the Palace and prepare to be sent back in time. Venice was one of her favorite travel destinations and she didn’t spare a penny to make the interior courtyard look like a Venetian piazza. In the center is a one of a kind Roman mosaic called Medusa. It was purchased by the Gardner’s 1897 and transported in several blocks to the museum. In and around the garden are statues from ancient Rome, Greece, and Egypt.
It took Gardner over three decades to build up her impressive art collection. All the rooms have named after particular artists or regions. The Tapestry room holds wall length renaissance tapestries Gardner bought in Brussels that depicted scenes from the Life of Cyrus the Great and Scenes from the Life of Abraham. It is in Gardner’s will that no piece of artwork be sold or moved from their original display. The tapestries were transported to Brussels once in a hundred years for a critical restoration. Gardner would have rolled over in her grave if she knew that thirteen priceless works of art were stolen from the museum in 1990. In the Dutch Room visitors can see the empty frames where for example, Rembrandt’s Storm on the Galilee was once displayed.
Despite that unfortunate event, the Gardner museum will always stand the test of time. She left a 1 million endowment to the museum that would be worth close to 14 million today. Every dollar from her endowment and additional donations go into the preservation of Gardner’s home and art collection. Two years ago the contemporary designed New Wing was completed in addition to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The extension was built to attract contemporary art to the Gardner and relieve tourist traffic on the original building. It has a contemporary gallery, a theater for concerts, a library and lounges for people to spend their time in. Gardner would have been proud to see her legacy expanding well into the future.
tangentwithtanner
yousharknotpass
origamiaround