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Isabella Stewart Gardner
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Isabella Stewart Gardner
Isabella Stewart Gardner (April 14, 1840 – July 17, 1924) was an American art collector, philanthropist, and patron of the arts. She founded the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.
Gardner was noted for her intellectual curiosity and love of travel. She was a friend of noted artists and writers of the day, including John Singer Sargent, James McNeill Whistler, Dennis Miller Bunker, Anders Zorn, Henry James, Dodge MacKnight, Okakura Kakuzō and Francis Marion Crawford.
Gardner created much fodder for the gossip columns of the day, with her reputation for stylish tastes and unconventional behavior. The Boston society pages called her by many names, including "Belle," "Donna Isabella," "Isabella of Boston," and "Mrs. Jack". Her surprising appearance at a 1912 concert (at what was, then, a very formal Boston Symphony Orchestra) wearing a white headband emblazoned with "Oh, you Red Sox" was reported, at the time, to have "almost caused a panic", and remains in Boston one of the most talked about of her eccentricities.
Isabella Stewart was born in New York City on April 14, 1840, the daughter of wealthy linen-merchant David Stewart and Adelia Stewart (née Smith). She grew up in Manhattan. From age five to fifteen, she attended a nearby academy for girls, where she studied art, music, and dance, as well as French and Italian. Attendance at Grace Church exposed her to religious art, music, and ritual. At age 16, she and her family moved to Paris, France, where she was enrolled in a school for American girls. Her classmates included members of the wealthy Gardner family of Boston. In 1857, she was taken to Italy, and in Milan, she saw Gian Giacomo Poldi Pezzoli's collection of Renaissance art arranged in rooms designed to recall historical eras. She said, at the time, that if she were ever to inherit some money, she would have a similar house for people to visit and enjoy. She returned to New York, in 1858.
Shortly after returning, her former classmate, Julia Gardner, invited her to Boston, where she met Julia's brother, John Lowell "Jack" Gardner. Three years her senior, he was the son of John L. and Catharine E. (Peabody) Gardner, and one of Boston's most eligible bachelors. They married in Grace Church on April 10, 1860, and then lived in a house that Isabella's father gave them, at 152 Beacon Street in Boston. They resided there for the rest of Jack's life.
Jack and Isabella had one son, born on June 18, 1863. He died from pneumonia on March 15, 1865, however. A year later, Isabella suffered a miscarriage and was told she could not bear any more children. Her close friend and sister-in-law died about the same time. Gardner became extremely depressed and withdrew from society. On the advice of doctors, she and Jack traveled to Europe, in 1867. Isabella was so ill that she had to be taken aboard the ship on a stretcher. The couple spent almost a year traveling, visiting Scandinavia and Russia but spending most of their time in Paris. The trip had the desired effect on Isabella's health and became a turning point in her life. It was on this trip that she began her lifelong habit of keeping scrapbooks of her travels. Upon her return, she began to establish her reputation as a fashionable, high-spirited socialite.
In 1875, Jack's brother, Joseph P. Gardner, died, leaving three young sons: Joseph Jr., William Amory, and Augustus. Jack and Isabella "adopted" and raised the boys. Isabella's biographer, Morris Carter, wrote that "in her duty to these boys, she was faithful and conscientious".
In 1874, Isabella and Jack Gardner visited the Middle East, Central Europe, and Paris. Beginning in the late 1880s, they frequently traveled across America, Europe, and Asia to discover foreign cultures and expand their knowledge of art around the world. Jack and Isabella would take more than a dozen trips abroad over the years, keeping them out of the country for a total of ten years.
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Isabella Stewart Gardner
Isabella Stewart Gardner (April 14, 1840 – July 17, 1924) was an American art collector, philanthropist, and patron of the arts. She founded the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.
Gardner was noted for her intellectual curiosity and love of travel. She was a friend of noted artists and writers of the day, including John Singer Sargent, James McNeill Whistler, Dennis Miller Bunker, Anders Zorn, Henry James, Dodge MacKnight, Okakura Kakuzō and Francis Marion Crawford.
Gardner created much fodder for the gossip columns of the day, with her reputation for stylish tastes and unconventional behavior. The Boston society pages called her by many names, including "Belle," "Donna Isabella," "Isabella of Boston," and "Mrs. Jack". Her surprising appearance at a 1912 concert (at what was, then, a very formal Boston Symphony Orchestra) wearing a white headband emblazoned with "Oh, you Red Sox" was reported, at the time, to have "almost caused a panic", and remains in Boston one of the most talked about of her eccentricities.
Isabella Stewart was born in New York City on April 14, 1840, the daughter of wealthy linen-merchant David Stewart and Adelia Stewart (née Smith). She grew up in Manhattan. From age five to fifteen, she attended a nearby academy for girls, where she studied art, music, and dance, as well as French and Italian. Attendance at Grace Church exposed her to religious art, music, and ritual. At age 16, she and her family moved to Paris, France, where she was enrolled in a school for American girls. Her classmates included members of the wealthy Gardner family of Boston. In 1857, she was taken to Italy, and in Milan, she saw Gian Giacomo Poldi Pezzoli's collection of Renaissance art arranged in rooms designed to recall historical eras. She said, at the time, that if she were ever to inherit some money, she would have a similar house for people to visit and enjoy. She returned to New York, in 1858.
Shortly after returning, her former classmate, Julia Gardner, invited her to Boston, where she met Julia's brother, John Lowell "Jack" Gardner. Three years her senior, he was the son of John L. and Catharine E. (Peabody) Gardner, and one of Boston's most eligible bachelors. They married in Grace Church on April 10, 1860, and then lived in a house that Isabella's father gave them, at 152 Beacon Street in Boston. They resided there for the rest of Jack's life.
Jack and Isabella had one son, born on June 18, 1863. He died from pneumonia on March 15, 1865, however. A year later, Isabella suffered a miscarriage and was told she could not bear any more children. Her close friend and sister-in-law died about the same time. Gardner became extremely depressed and withdrew from society. On the advice of doctors, she and Jack traveled to Europe, in 1867. Isabella was so ill that she had to be taken aboard the ship on a stretcher. The couple spent almost a year traveling, visiting Scandinavia and Russia but spending most of their time in Paris. The trip had the desired effect on Isabella's health and became a turning point in her life. It was on this trip that she began her lifelong habit of keeping scrapbooks of her travels. Upon her return, she began to establish her reputation as a fashionable, high-spirited socialite.
In 1875, Jack's brother, Joseph P. Gardner, died, leaving three young sons: Joseph Jr., William Amory, and Augustus. Jack and Isabella "adopted" and raised the boys. Isabella's biographer, Morris Carter, wrote that "in her duty to these boys, she was faithful and conscientious".
In 1874, Isabella and Jack Gardner visited the Middle East, Central Europe, and Paris. Beginning in the late 1880s, they frequently traveled across America, Europe, and Asia to discover foreign cultures and expand their knowledge of art around the world. Jack and Isabella would take more than a dozen trips abroad over the years, keeping them out of the country for a total of ten years.
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