Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Rembrandt Self-Portrait

Summary: The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft of two bronzes, 10 paintings and one obscure Rembrandt self-portrait is unsolved since March 18, 1990.

Rembrandt Harmonszoon van Rijn's "Self Portrait Wearing a Soft Cap: Full Face, Head Only" (1633) was one of three Rembrandt paintings removed during the March 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

A postage stamp-sized drawing purchased March 18, 1886, for $120 accounts for one of the 13 artworks removed during the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft in Boston, Massachusetts, March 18, 1990.

The Rembrandt self-portrait brings to three the number of art pieces by one Dutch draughtsman, painter and printmaker to be borne away during the 81-minute robbery. It contributes to the $500 million value of the theft the morning after Saint Patrick's Day even though another artist's painting claims almost half that total. The 1.75- by 1.94-inch (4.45- by 4.92-centimeter) etching, described as Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and as Self-Portrait, most likely dates from 1633.

The autoportrait by Rembrandt Harmonszoon van Rijn (July 15, 1606-Oct. 4, 1669) of Leiden, Netherlands, emerges as a possible pinch-hit for a nearby artwork's botched theft.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, known historically as Fenway Court and locally as the palace, fits between Palace Road intersections with Fenway and with Tetlow Street.

The buff-brick rectangular palace atop a rock-faced ashlar granite foundation gives the surrounding culturally and educationally prominent Fenway neighborhood the look of a 15th-century Venetian palazzo. Its hipped red Spanish tile roof has exposed purlins (horizontal beams), overhanging eaves, projecting chimneys and a skylight whose gabled glass helps light the interior courtyard. The enclosed interior courtyard with 400 to 500 potted plants rotated every six weeks is the pretext that initiates the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft.

Security guard Richard Abath judges purported courtyard disturbances justification to buzz in two Boston policemen at 1:24 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (6:24 a.m. Coordinated Universal Time).

Motion detectors keep track of the two thieves' progression through the second-floor Dutch Room and Short Gallery but they keep nothing from the first-floor Blue Room.

Blue Room records list only the footsteps of the security guard's patrol at 12:27 and 12:53 a.m. EST (6:27 and 6:53 a.m. UTC) before the theft. Empty frames mark the places of one painting moved from the Blue Room, four paintings from the Dutch Room and five paintings from the Short Gallery. Similar placeholders note the Dutch Room's nabbed Rembrandt self-portrait and Shang Dynasty gu (bronze beaker) and the Short Gallery's nipped bronze Napoleonic flagstaff finial (ornamental top).

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft offers another oddity in not obtaining the world-famous Europa by Italian Renaissance painter Tiziano Vecellio (Titian, 1488?-Aug. 27, 1576).

The crime scene photographs present the oil on oak panel, 35.5- by 28.9-inch (89.7- by 73.5-centimeter) Rembrandt Self-Portrait, Age 23 of 1629 as an intended target.

Unsuccessful attempts to remove the painting from its heavy frame qualify as the apparent reason for leaving the panel on the floor of the Dutch Room. Stolen surveillance tapes undoubtedly reveal whether the ink-on-paper etching, also called Self Portrait Wearing a Soft Cap: Full Face, Head Only, was removed deliberately or opportunistically. The 1633 self-portrait's frame stands on the side of a 17th-century carved oak cabinet under the rehanged 1629 self-portrait, purchased for 3,000 pounds Feb. 16, 1896.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft triggers a $5 million reward for information that brings back the beaker, etching, finial and paintings in good condition.

Rembrandt Harmonszoon van Rijn's "Self-Portrait, Age 23" (1629) escaped theft because of its heavy frame: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Rembrandt Harmonszoon van Rijn's "Self Portrait Wearing a Soft Cap: Full Face, Head Only" (1633) was one of three Rembrandt paintings removed during the March 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rembrandt_-_Self_portrait_etching_-_ISGM.jpg

Rembrandt Harmonszoon van Rijn's "Self-Portrait, Age 23" (1629) escaped theft because of its heavy frame: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rembrandt_van_Rijn_198.jpg

For further information:

Baker, Billy. 10 March 2015. "Gardener Keeps Gardner Museum's Atrium in Bloom." Boston Globe > Metro.
Available @ https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/03/09/gardener-keeps-gardner-atrium-bloom/bbSZctlMtkEDy9UDYWrO4K/story.html

Boston Landmarks Commission. Report on the Potential Designation of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum as a Landmark under Chapter 772 of the Acts of 1975, as Amended.
Available @ https://www.cityofboston.gov/images_documents/ISGM%20Study%20Report%20as%20Amended_tcm3-39717.pdf

"Collection." Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
Available @ http://www.gardnermuseum.org/collection

FBI. 15 November 2005. "FBI Announces Top Ten Art Crimes." Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) > News > Stories > 2005 > November.
Available via FBI @ https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/stories/2005/november/topten_art111505

FBI. 8 March 2013. "Gardner Museum in Boston Offering $5 Million Reward for Stolen Art." YouTube.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DpD1HbcFfQ

FBI Boston Division. "Boston FBI Continues Hunt for Stolen Artwork." Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) > Boston Division > Press Releases > 2010.
Available via FBI @ https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/boston/press-releases/2010/bs031510.htm

FBI Boston Division. "FBI Provides New Information Regarding the 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Art Heist." Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) > Boston Division > Press Releases > 2013.
Available via FBI @ https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/boston/press-releases/2013/fbi-provides-new-information-regarding-the-1990-isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art-heist

"The Gardner Museum Theft." Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) > FBI Top Ten Art Crimes.
Available @ https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/5-million-reward-offered-for-return-of-stolen-gardner-museum-artwork

Mashberg, Tom. March 1998. "Stealing Beauty." Vanity Fair > Culture.
Available @ http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/1998/03/biggest-art-heist-us-history

Murphy, Shelley. 17 March 2015. "Search for Artworks from Gardner Heist Continues 25 Years Later." Boston Globe > Metro.
Available @ https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/03/17/gardner-museum-art-heist-one-boston-most-enduring-mysteries-years-later/9U3tp1kJMa4Zn4uClI1cdM/story.html

"Thirteen Works: Explore the Gardner's Stolen Art." Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum > Resources > Theft.
Available @ http://www.gardnermuseum.org/resources/theft

Thomson, Jason. 3 May 2016. "Isabella Stewart Gardner Theft: Is the Massive Art Heist About to be Solved?" The Christian Science Monitor > USA > USA Update.
Available @ http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/USA-Update/2016/0503/Isabella-Stewart-Gardner-theft-Is-the-massive-art-heist-about-to-be-solved

WBUR. 12 March 2009. "Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Heist." YouTube.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irBRWMMHOI8

Williams, Paige. March 2010. "The Art of the Story." Boston Magazine > Gardner Museum > Gardner Museum Theft.
Available @ http://www.bostonmagazine.com/2010/03/gardner-heist/3/