Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Degas Funeral Procession

Summary: The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft March 18, 1990, affected an etching, two bronzes and 10 paintings, including a Degas funeral procession.

Edgar Degas, born Hilaire Germain Edgar de Gas; one of five Degas artworks removed from Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum during March 1990 art heist: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

A funeral procession ambled through a landscape outside Florence, Italy until two thieves acting like Boston policemen advanced on the Short Gallery's Degas artworks during the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft.

The 81-minute, $500-plus million-valued robbery banished one Chinese beaker, one Napoleonic flag topper, one Dutch etching, four Dutch paintings and six French artworks from their homes. The theft March 18, 1990, concerned the first-floor Blue Room and the second-floor Dutch Room and Short Gallery in the four-story museum in Boston's Fenway neighborhood. Motion detectors delivered what video surveillance tapes removed by dark-haired, dark-mustached, light-skinned, 20-plus- or 30-plus-year-old males did not: break, cut and grab progressions through darkened hallways.

A 1986 or 1988 red Dodge Daytona outside the Palace Road entrance March 17 and 18, 1990, and surveillance tapes from March 17 emerged as clues.

Surveillance tapes March 17, 1990, and Saint Patrick's Day party-goers finding their way home almost 25 hours later furnished similar descriptions of a possible getaway car.

Museum surveillance tapes gave 12:49 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (6:49 a.m. Coordinated Universal Time) for the after-hours entrance of a male from a parked Dodge Daytona. Descriptions by Fenway neighborhood party stragglers had a red Dodge Daytona parked outside the same entrance by 1:24 a.m. EST (6:24 a.m. UTC) the next day. The United States Attorney's Office in the District of Massachusetts instructed releasing Aug. 6, 2015, the "images which have not previously been seen by the public."

Carmen Ortiz, one of 93 U.S. Attorneys under the U.S. Attorney General, judged "identifying an unauthorized" visitor conducive to Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft recoveries.

On March 18, 1990, a guard admitted two fake policemen, claiming a response to an incident call, into the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum at the Palace Road service entrance (shown here ca. 1933): Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Public Domain, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

The Degas funeral procession, the two Degas dancers and the two Degas jockeys keep low profiles in another source of clues in the post-theft reported sightings.

Post-theft reported sightings of the Manet cafegoer, the Rembrandt seascape and the Vermeer concert leap from Massachusetts, through Connecticut, Maine, New York and Pennsylvania, to Florida. The five missing works by Paris-born French painter, printmaker and sculptor Edgar Degas (July 19, 1834-Sept. 27, 1917) manage more diminutive, modest looks than oil paintings. Degas dancers and, with the Degas funeral procession, Degas jockeys historically needed two panels on custom-designed cabinets near the Short Gallery's doorway into the Tapestry Room.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft obtained a Degas funeral procession at about one-half the size of the Manet cafegoer and one-tenth the Rembrandt seascape.

The Museum's Curatorial Department, provenance and purchase records preserve online images and information for the missing objects and the waylaid works in oils and on papers.

The Degas funeral Procession on a Road near Florence, entitled Cortège sur une route aux environs de Florence, from 1857 to 1860, qualifies as a rectangle. Curatorial records refer to the pencil and sepia wash on paper as number 3.l.o.95 while a shipping receipt references it as No. 66, 258 or 429. They show dimensions for the Degas funeral procession as a height or length of 6.12 inches (15.6 centimeters) and a width of 8.12 inches (20.6 centimeters).

Empty frames and placeholders tag the one table and the 12 wall spaces that toll 27 years without the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft casualties.

"Self-Portrait With White Collar," ca. 1857 oil on paper on canvas, by Edgar Degas: National Gallery of Art, 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:

"Cortège aux Environs de Florence," pencil and wash on paper by Edgar Degas, born Hilaire Germain Edgar de Gas; one of five Degas artworks removed from Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum during March 1990 art heist: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Degas_-_Cortege_aux_Environs_de_Florence.jpg

On March 18, 1990, a guard admitted two fake policemen, claiming a response to an incident call, into the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum at the Palace Road service entrance (shown here ca. 1933): Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Public Domain, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division @ https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.ma1748.photos/?sp=25

"Cortège aux Environs de Florence" is one of five Degas artworks removed during March 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art heist; "Three Mounted Jockeys" (upper right);"La Sortie de Pesage" (lower right);"Program for an Artistic Soirée I" (upper left); "Program for an Artistic Soirée II" (lower left): Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Public Domain, via FBI Art Crime Team @ https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/5-million-reward-offered-for-return-of-stolen-gardner-museum-artwork

"Self-Portrait With White Collar," ca. 1857 oil on paper on canvas, by Edgar Degas: National Gallery of Art, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Self-Portrait_with_White_Collar_A21189.jpg?uselang=fr

For further information:

"18 U.S. Code § 668 - Theft of Major Artwork." Cornell University Law School > Legal Information Institute > U.S. Code > Title 18 > Part I > chapter 31 > 668.
Available @ https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/668?quicktabs_8=1#quicktabs-8

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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

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Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DpD1HbcFfQ

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Available via FBI @ https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/boston/press-releases/2010/bs031510.htm

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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

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Available @ https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/boston/news/press-releases/historic-footage-connected-to-gardner-museum-burglary-released-public-assistance-sought

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Available @ https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/5-million-reward-offered-for-return-of-stolen-gardner-museum-artwork

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Available @ http://www.vermeer-foundation.org/

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Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/02/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art_10.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 24 February 2017. “Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Degas Dancers.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/02/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art_24.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 3 February 2017. “Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Flinck Obelisk.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/02/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 17 February 2017. “Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Napoleonic Flag Topper.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/02/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art_17.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 20 January 2017. “Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Rembrandt Couple.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/01/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art_20.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 13 January 2017. “Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Rembrandt Seascape.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/01/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art_13.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 6 January 2017. “Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Rembrandt Self-Portrait.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/01/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 27 January 2017. “Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Vermeer Concert.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/01/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art_27.html

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Available @ http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/1998/03/biggest-art-heist-us-history

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Available @ http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/01/arts/design/isabella-stewart-gardner-heist-25-years-of-theories.html?_r=0

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

"Reputed Mobster Arrested, Reportedly Tried to Fence Gardner Museum Art." The Boston Globe > Posted Apr 17, 2015 at 3:14 PM > Updated Apr 18, 2015 at 10:52 PM.
Available @ http://www.telegram.com/article/20150417/NEWS/304179654

"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. "'The Concert' by Johannes Vermeer." YouTube. March 17, 2010.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrPqiGIJYYs

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Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irBRWMMHOI8

Williams, Paige. March 2010. "The Art of the Story." Boston Magazine > Gardner Museum > Gardner Museum Theft.
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