Earth and Space News: March 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft

Showing posts with label March 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft. Show all posts

Friday, March 17, 2017

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Manet Cafegoer

Summary: The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft March 18, 1990 keeps an etching, two bronzes and 11 other works, including the Manet cafegoer, out of sight.

"Chez Tortoni," oil on wood by Édouard Manet, removed from first-floor Blue Room during March 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

A model 1986 or 1988 red Dodge Daytona answers to the description of a possible getaway car for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft perpetrators March 18, 1990, in Boston, Massachusetts.

Museum surveillance tapes March 17 at 12:49 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (6:49 a.m. Coordinated Universal Time) bring up the car that late-nighters saw 25 hours later. Thirteen artworks sized from 1.75 by 1.94 inches (4.5 by 5 centimeters) to 63 by 50.38 inches (160 by 128 centimeters) called for a getaway driver. Dutch Room and Short Gallery post-theft inventories detail one etching, one panel, two bronzes, three oils on canvas and five works on paper demanding vehicular transport.

The Blue Room experienced the only first-floor extraction even though motion detectors established only pre-theft footsteps at 12:27 and 12:53 a.m. (6:27 and 6:53 a.m. UTC).

First-floor Blue Room, home of "Chez Tortoni," and neighboring Macknight Room are accessed by the North Cloister; ca. 1933 view from west gives glimpse of Spanish chapel at North Cloister's eastern end; National Park Service's Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.: No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government, via Library of Congress Photo, Print, Drawing

Blue brocatelle, damask and moiré stripe silks function as coverings for all four walls, and furnish the name, of the room nearest the Museum's public entrance.

American and Russian oils on canvas, an American watercolor and Noonday by Paris-born French painter Camille Corot (July 17, 1796-Feb. 22, 1875) grace the east wall. The north wall has American, Australian and Dutch watercolors, American oils on canvas and wood, American photographic reproductions and Swedish works on canvas and on paper. The west wall includes American oils on cardboard and on pasteboard, American and Swedish oils on canvas, American and Italian watercolors and American works on paper.

The south wall juggles just one artwork per French artist after the Manet cafegoer in Chez Tortoni joined the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft casualties.

The south wall, like the east wall, knows just one French artwork, Jean Désiré Gustave Courbet's (June 10, 1819-Dec. 31, 1877) A View Across the River.

Édouard Manet's (Jan. 23, 1832-April 30, 1883) Portrait of Madame Auguste Manet historically leads as third, near 15th-century Italian lion finials, of 34 south wall-located artworks. Charles-Émile Jacque's (May 23, 1813-May 7, 1894) Sheep in the Shelter of the Oaks marks the boundary of the first of the south wall's two niches. Rosa Bonheur's (March 16, 1822-May 25, 1899) A She-Goat nestles near Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix's (April 26, 1798-Aug. 13, 1863) The Crusader in the second alcove.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft overlooks all, including Paul-Albert Besnard's (June 2, 1849-Dec. 4, 1934) A Lady with a Rose, but the Manet cafegoer.

Louis Kronberg purchased Manet's Chez Tortoni for Isabella Stewart Gardner Nov. 30, 1922: Gardner Museum @gardnermuseum, via Twitter Nov. 7, 2016

The missing Manet cafegoer prompts Blue Room totals of 33 artworks, the same as the night of its theft from Manet's mother being removed for cleaning.

Provenance qualifies Louis Kronberg (Dec. 20, 1872-March 9, 1965), Museum-commissioned purchaser at the American Art Association-organized, Plaza Hotel-held auction Nov. 30, 1922, as last legitimate buyer. The sales receipt for Chez Tortoni, 10.25- by 13.33-inch (26- by 34-centimeter) oil on canvas from about 1875, remains among the Museum's provenance and purchase records. It states: "Portrait of a blasé and yet alert young man writing a letter at the famous Paris café, his refreshing glass resting just at hand."

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft triggers questions regarding the how and when of removing the security-bolted Manet cafegoer and of recovering all 13 casualties.

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum gives "about 1875" as the date for "Chez Tortoni"; "Un Atelier aux Batignolles," 1870 oil on canvas portrait of Édouard Manet, at the easel in his studio, by Henri Fantin-Latour (Jan. 14, 1836-Aug. 25, 1904); Musée d'Orsay, 7e arrondissement de Paris (VIIe arrondissement; 7th arrondissement), la rive gauche de la Seine (Left Bank of the Seine), Paris, north central France; Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015, 15:28: Sailko, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Henri_fantin-latour,_un_atelier_alle_batignolles,_1870,_01.JPG;
(painting without frame @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Henri_Fantin-Latour_006.jpg);
via le Ministère de la Culture la plateforme POP @ https://www.pop.culture.gouv.fr/notice/joconde/000PE003779

Louis Kronberg purchased Manet's Chez Tortoni for Isabella Stewart Gardner Nov. 30, 1922: Gardner Museum @gardnermuseum, via Twitter Nov. 7, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/gardnermuseum/status/795698602375020546

ca. 1914 photograph of American figure painter and art dealer Louis Kronberg, who arranged for the purchase of "Chez Tortoni" on Isabella Stewart Gardner's behalf; Smithsonian Institution Archives of American Art, William Macbeth Gallery Records: Smithsonian Institution (Smithsonian Institution), No known copyright restrictions, via Flickr @ https://www.flickr.com/photos/smithsonian/2796856240/;
Current copyright status undetermined, via Smithsonian Archives of American Art @ https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/items/detail/louis-kronberg-2211

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

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. "FBI Announces Top Ten Art Crimes." Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) > News > Stories > 2005 > November. November 15, 2005.
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

Gardner Museum @gardnermuseum. "#OnThisDay in 1921, Isabella Stewart Gardner purchased Louis Kronberg’s La Gitana. Kronberg was one of several artist advisors to Isabella." Twitter. Nov. 7, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/gardnermuseum/status/795698602375020546

"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

"Johannes Vermeer: The Complete Works." Vermeer Foundation.
Available @ http://www.vermeer-foundation.org/

Marriner, Derdriu. 10 February 2017. “Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Bronze Chinese Beaker.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
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 March 2017. “Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Degas Funeral Procession.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/03/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 10 March 2017. “Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Degas Jockeys.” Earth and Space News. Friday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2017/03/isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art_10.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

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

Mashberg, Tom. 26 February 2015. "Isabella Stewart Gardner Heist: 25 Years of Theories." New York Times > Arts > Art & Design.
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. 17 March 2010. "'The Concert' by Johannes Vermeer." YouTube.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrPqiGIJYYs

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/

Friday, March 10, 2017

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Degas Jockeys

Summary: The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft March 18, 1990, relocated elsewhere a beaker, a flag topper and 11 artworks, including two Degas jockeys.

"Three Mounted Jockeys," oil on brown paper; one of five artworks by Edgar Degas stolen during March 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

One panel accepted two Degas dancers and another a horse-filled, woman-attended Degas funeral procession and two Degas jockeys until the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft March 18, 1990, in Boston, Massachusetts.

Thieves in Boston uniforms, with crackling radios and without police weapons, blustered their way inside at 1:24 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (6:24 a.m. Coordinated Universal Time). The only robbery since the Museum's opening Jan. 1, 1903, concentrated upon works in oils by Flinck, Rembrandt and Vermeer and works on paper by Degas. It decreased Blue Room oils by one Manet, Dutch Room pieces by one Flinck, one Vermeer and three Rembrandts and Short Gallery works by five Degas.

The 81-minute, $500-plus million-valued extraction of 13 artworks exposed visitors to the Dutch Room's table without its beaker and the Short Gallery's flag without its top.

Yellow walls behind the seated subject of Portrait of Joséphine Gaujelin by Edgar Degas (July 19, 1834-Sept. 27, 1917) in 1867 fit the Yellow Room's colors.

Her black attire despite white sequins and her perfect but rigid posture give the Opéra ballerina and Théâtre du Gymnase (Gymnasium Theater) actress a funereal look. Attire, intensity, posture and profession in the 24.09- by 17.99-inch (61.2- by 45.7-centimeter) oil painting hint of the Short Gallery's Degas dancers and Degas funeral procession. A portrait rejected by its subject and exhibited against her will in the Paris Salon of 1869 and the United States is the Museum's only Degas.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft jeopardized the second-floor Degas dancers, Degas funeral procession and Degas jockeys, but not the first-floor Degas oil on canvas.

Degas's portrait of actress and dancer Joséphine Gaujelin hangs safely in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum's Yellow Room: Ferdi Stam @FerdiStam, via Twitter Jan. 16, 2015

The Degas oil on canvas, as Museum accession number P1e4, keeps to its historical space since purchase in 1904 from Eugene Glaenzer and Co., New York.

The dancer surnamed Gozelin historically looked at gentlemen using the men's cloakroom and presently looks at visitors viewing the first Matisse to "enter an American museum." The Yellow Room maintains Henri-Émile-Benoît Matisse's (Dec. 31, 1869-Nov. 3, 1954) The Terrace, Saint-Tropez from 1904 and musical instruments from Spanish Cloister and Tapestry Room concerts. The Addition's opening Jan. 19, 2012, and the Museum's renovations nudged furnishings, 2,500 artworks and 20 rooms into looks, if not uses, from 86 years before.

Today's restored museum offers matches, for all but Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft casualties, with 91-year-old photographs by Thomas E. Marr, 180 Tremont Street, Boston.

The Short Gallery perpetuates Yellow Room-like uses, preserved in photographs from 1926, as location of personal mementoes near the Tapestry Room, Spanish Cloister-like in hosting events.

Blank spaces from the missing Degas dancers, Degas funeral procession and Degas jockeys qualify, as a mismatch, the Short Gallery wall near its Tapestry Room entryway. They recall Three Mounted Jockeys (Jockey à cheval), 12- by 9.44-inch (30.5- by 24-centimeter) black ink, white, flesh and rose washes, oil pigments on brown paper. They suggest similar place-holding arrangements for the missing 4.12- by 6.31-inch (10.5- by 16-centimeter) watercolor and pencil on paper Leaving the Paddock (La sortie du pesage).

Blue Room, Dutch Room and Short Gallery collections tender somewhat incomplete-looking uses without two Degas jockeys and 11 other Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft casualties.

Matisse's The Terrace safely remains in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum's Yellow Room: Steve @Towerbeach, via Twitter July 23, 2014

Acknowledgment

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

Image credits:

Degas's portrait of actress and dancer Joséphine Gaujelin hangs safely in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum's Yellow Room: Ferdi Stam @FerdiStam, via Twitter Jan. 16, 2015, @ https://twitter.com/FerdiStam/status/556000202264686592

Matisse's The Terrace safely remains in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum's Yellow Room: Steve @Towerbeach via Twitter July 23, 2014, @ https://twitter.com/Towerbeach/status/491969432122822656

Self-styled historical realist painter Edgar Degas shared enthusiasm for art and horse racing with Édouard Manet (Jan. 23, 1832-April 30, 1883); a favorite locale for both artists to indulge in both enthusiasms was Longchamp Racecourse (Hippodrome de Longchamp) in Paris's Bois de Boulogne; "Inauguration des Courses au Bois de Boulogne" (Inauguration of Longchamp Racecourse in the Bois de Boulogne), Sunday, April 27, 1857, as illustrated by G. Guerinot and Clément-Auguste Andrieux for May 2, 1857, issue of Le Monde Illustré: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:No03p11_courses_boulogne-e03-.jpg;
via Fulgence Girard pages on Baptiste Marcel's website @ http://www.dunwich.org/fulgence.girard/no03p11_courses_boulogne.html

"Three Mounted Jockeys" is one of five Degas artworks stolen from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: "Program for an Artistic Soirée I" (upper left); "Program for an Artistic Soirée II" (lower left); "Cortège aux Environs de Florence" (upper right); "La Sortie du Pesage" (lower right): 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

For further information:

"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

Ferdi Stam @FerdiStam. 16 January 2015. "Edgar Degas - Portrait of Joséphine Gaujelin (1867) Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/FerdiStam/status/556000202264686592

Girard, Fulgence. "Courses du Bois de Boulogne." Le Monde Illustré, no. 3 (May 2, 1857): 11.
Available @ http://www.dunwich.org/fulgence.girard/no03p11_courses_boulogne_gr.html

Hornbuckle, Adam R. "Degas at the Races." Journal of Sport History, vol. 25, no. 2 (1998): 317-20.
Available @ http://www.jstor.org/stable/43610564.

"Johannes Vermeer: The Complete Works." Vermeer Foundation.
Available @ http://www.vermeer-foundation.org/

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

Steve @Towerbeach. 23 July 2014. "Matisse: The Terrace, Saint-Tropez, 1904." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/Towerbeach/status/491969432122822656

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

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

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/

Friday, March 3, 2017

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.

"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

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 Sunday, 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); National Park Service's Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.: No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government, via Library of Congress Photo, Print, Drawing

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:

"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;
Public Domain, via National Gallery of Art @ https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.92994.html

"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

For further information:

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

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

FBI Boston Division. "Historic Footage Connected to Gardner Museum Burglary Released, Public Assistance Sought." Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) > Contact Us > Field Offices > Boston > News > August 6, 2015.
Available @ https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/boston/news/press-releases/historic-footage-connected-to-gardner-museum-burglary-released-public-assistance-sought

"Johannes Vermeer: The Complete Works." Vermeer Foundation.
Available @ http://www.vermeer-foundation.org/

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

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

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

WBUR. "Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Heist." YouTube. March 12, 2009.
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/

Friday, February 24, 2017

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Theft: Degas Dancers

Summary: The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft March 18, 1990 nets an etching, two bronzes, five oils and five works on paper, including two Degas dancers.

"Program for an Artistic Soirée I," 1884 charcoal on white paper by Edgar Degas, born Hilaire Germain Edgar de Gas; one of two dance studies removed from second-floor Short Gallery during March 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art heist: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft March 18, 1990, acknowledged the abundance of dancing and racing in Degas artworks by acquiring one Degas procession, two Degas dancers and two Degas jockeys.

The museum in the Fenway neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, historically boasts in its Degas collection one extant oil on canvas and five missing works on paper. The oil on canvas still counts among the artworks in the first-floor Yellow Room whereas the second-floor Short Gallery no longer claims any Degas on paper. The art-grabbing, frame-cutting, glass-breaking movements of two thieves dressed in Boston police uniforms dislodged the five Degas works from custom-designed display cabinets in the Short Gallery.

Motion detectors expose extractions of a Chinese object and Dutch artworks from the Dutch Room and a French object and French artworks from the Short Gallery.

"Program for an Artistic Soiréee II," 1884 charcoal on buff paper by Edgar Degas; second of two dance studies stolen during March 1990 Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Curatorial Department furnishes online images and information concerning the etching, two bronzes, five works in oils and five works on paper.

The curatorial records give artist creation dates, artwork descriptions, dimensions and titles and Museum identification numbers for all Blue Room, Dutch Room and Short Gallery casualties. They have the two parts to the Study for the Programme de la soirée artistique du 15 juin 1884 (Galerie Ponsin) identified as 3.l.o.96 and 3.l.o.97. They identify the medium for both parts of the Study for the Program of the Artistic Evening of June 15, 1884 as black chalk on paper.

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft extractions, if not severe exile, jeopardize Degas dancers in the first study on white paper and the second on buff.

Edgar Degas emerging from Paris's public facilities in photograph by Count Giuseppe Napoleone Primoli (May 2, 1851-June 13, 1927), in 1889, about five years after the self-termed realist’s June 15, 1884, dancer charcoals: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The first part of the study for the artistic evening program of June 15, 1884 knows dimensions of 9.69 by 12.38 inches (24.6 by 31.4 centimeters).

The Curatorial Department lists dimensions of 10.5 by 14.81 inches (26.6 by 37.6 centimeters) for the second study by Edgar Degas (July 19, 1834-Sept. 27, 1917). The segment on Short Gallery losses in the theft section of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum website makes provenance and purchase records available for both studies. It notes the purchase of Edgar Degas works on paper through Fernand Robert, Mrs. Gardner's "art-buying agent and exporter" at 30, Rue Joubert in Paris, France.

A shipping receipt offers purchase dates and prices on six Degas works, including the Degas dancers, 71 years before the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft.

Art buyer and exporter Fernand Robert’s Degas purchases for Isabella Stewart Gardner happened at the fourth and final sale of Degas artwork held by renowned French gallerist Georges Petit (March 11, 1856-May 12, 1920); Georges Petit (center) with sculpture in auction at Hotel Drouot (Hôtel des ventes de Drouot), Paris; L’intérieur de l’hôtel Drouot lors d’une vente dirigée par Me Lair-Dubreuil (Interior of the Hotel Drouot During a Sale Led by Lair-Dubreuil; Argentina-born French master auctioneer Ambroise Fernand Lair Dubreuil, July 12, 1867-Oct. 21, 1931), watercolor by Jean Louis Lefort (June 15, 1875-1954): Aderparis, CC BY SA 4.0 International, via Wikimedia Commons

The Robert shipping receipt packages into one crate six Degas "drawings" from the Georges Petit (March 11, 1856-May 12, 1920) auction July 2 to 4, 1919.

The Robert itemization quantifies for crate #148 two Degas drawings each, under the numbers #66, 258 and 429 valued at 2,750,660 and 2,800 French francs. The receipt dated July 10, 1919, reveals inclusion of John Singer Sargent's (Jan. 12, 1856-April 14, 1925) Madame Gautreau Drinking a Toast from 1882 to 1883. The portrait of Virginie Amélie Avegno (Jan. 29, 1859-July 25, 1915), banker Pierre Gautreau's wife and Sargent's Portrait of Madame X from 1883 to 1884, survives.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art theft of the Degas dancers thrusts responsibility for testifying to Degas' dance-related artistry upon Portrait of Joséphine Gaujelin from 1867.

The Degas drawings shared a shipping crate with “Madame Gautreau Drinking a Toast,” 1882-1883 oil on wood by John Singer Sargent, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, first-floor Blue Room: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 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:

Edgar Degas emerges from Paris's public facilities in photograph by Count Giuseppe Napoleone Primoli (May 2, 1851-June 13, 1927), in 1889, about five years after the self-termed realist’s June 15, 1884, dancer charcoals: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Primoli-DegasinParis.jpg

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

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

"Johannes Vermeer: The Complete Works." Vermeer Foundation.
Available @ http://www.vermeer-foundation.org/

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

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

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

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

WBUR. "Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Heist." YouTube. March 12, 2009.
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/